SQUID FRY 08.08.13 – Bitter Beer…

BITTER BEER… Resentment and anger beat tenaciously in Squid’s cold, three-chambered heart. But Squid isn’t used to seeing it in little Sand City, where the town of about 300 enjoys all sorts of luxuries: its own police force, great small-batch beer, millions in big-box sales-tax receipts and the incredible (and free) West End Celebration concert-street party that just wrapped up.

Yet it’s there, in cheery Sand City, that Post No Bills staff and customers are angry because the Orosco Group, still developing the Sand City Independent, surprised the craft-beer house by demolishing its bathrooms as part of building upgrades, swapping in porta-potties in the parking lot. PNB owner Mark Moses is upset they’d treat an anchor tenant so poorly – or that they were ready to punch holes in the bar’s signature graffiti murals to run pipes to apartments above. And the Orosco Group’s Patrick Orosco is PO’d (and surprisingly surprised) Weekly reporters heard about the stink.

But the best hot flash came from a group of customers who flagged the Weekly on an email to Patrick and his dad, Don. “The (used to be) loyal customers at Post No Bills have taken a poll and voted you ‘JackAsses’ of the year. Thanks for making the best bar in Monterey, literally, a shit hole (to go to the bathroom in),” it reads. “We suggest that you close your nice bathrooms at your fancy offices in Ryan Ranch for a few months and use port-o-potties.”

That’s bitterness on par with PNB’s draft El Toro “Deuce” IPA.

SWING LOW… Speaking of first-world problems, Squid encountered a few at the Monterey County Fair last weekend. There’s the labor of having to park a half mile away to avoid $20-plus lot fees, the pain of paying $9 for a basket of barely edible fried zucchini, and the annoyance in a 10-minute line to drop $25 on a few kiddie rides.

Fair is all about the little ones, though, and the Squidlet – who’d just barely attained the height requirement for some dinky rides – was stoked to board the 3-mph train, the wee merry-go-round and the tadpole-sized frog hopper. But Squid saw other little ones who weren’t so lucky. When another kid got to the ride he seemed most excited about, the tiny swings, a staffer blocked him. Thirty-six-inchers have to ride with an adult, he said, but the kid’s mom couldn’t ride because she was preggers.

Squid sees holes in that rule. One: Enforcement is arbitrary. Two: Squid couldn’t find it in writing anywhere, including on the ride. Three: This wasn’t a Six Flags roller-coaster; it was a mellow little kiddie swing.

Seems it should be a parent’s call. Even Disneyland just posts advisories for pregnant riders. Guess this is another one of those times liability trumps old-fashioned common sense.