3 Places In Jamestown NY You’ll Probably Never Visit
Today’s motorcycle trip destination was Jamestown NY and I had a ton of shit to do before our departure time. For starters, I needed a front brake cable in order to operate, you guessed it: my front brake. A week prior I had put on 6” over forks to keep up the the clearly reoccurring theme of changing everything on my bike until absolutely nothing is stock or original but the gas tank or rear fender. And even those might/most likely go one day too… So, I had some running around to do and then a few little bike maintenance things and finally we’d be off.
Why Jamestown you ask? Well, planning this trip took exactly 2 minutes, given the fact the criteria was quite broad and consisted of these conditions: “about 3ish hours away” and also “somewhere we’ve never been” and last but not least “a place that serves beer”. Simple. Jamestown New York, also known as the birthplace of Lucille Ball, Roger Goodell, and the invention of the crescent wrench. My question is; how have you made it this far in your life NOT going to Jamestown? With great difficulty I assume. I digress. Here I have outlined 3 tips for having a great time in Jamestown.
1.The Bullfrog Motel
If you’re gonna drink alcohol, then you really shouldn’t drive. This thought was also part of the extremely in depth and lengthy planning process for this trek. So, while googling “dive bars and motels” of course the Bullfrog Motel was the first to come up. Possibly the only one but I do not recall. Either way we were goin.
After a freezing cold last 45 minutes of the ride we finally rolled into the parking lot, ready to get warm as soon as humanly possible and ready to get this small town party started. Upon entering I notice there is one stairwell headed upstairs, one hallway leading to the bar I assumed, and a bathroom that looked like a location for one of the Saw movies. We walk down the projected bar hallway and were both pleasantly surprised with our decision. The Bullfrog Motel’s lobby bar is an absolute gem. Everything you’d expect from small town America: posters of babes in bikinis from the 70’s, a well lit wall of liquor, a small stage in the corner for live bands, and a gigantic beer fridge behind the bar. Well, I order a shot and a beer to warm me up. Something about a whiskey shot followed by a sip of beer that makes you feel like everything in life is gonna work out just fine.
Now, I had also planned for us to stay at this fine establishment for the evening as well, however, after inquiring about a room the bartender had this response: “only residents of Jamestown can get a room here”. Well there goes that brilliant idea.
After a few rounds of the life-curing alcohol duo, I’ve already had 2 conversations about Canada and the US, Trump, and asked many times: “Why the hell did you stop in Jamestown?”. I had also met an older gentleman who was a motorcycle enthusiast that seemed very concerned about how much fun we were planning on having this fine eve. He recommended our next destination with so much enthusiasm we had no choice but to check it out…
2. Big Shots
After paying our insanely cheap tab at the Bullfrog, we headed back out into the now very cool but still manageable evening air and to our bikes in the parking lot. We get our helmets on and proceed to follow our new found bike buddy. I vaguely remember through the conversation of which route we’d take to the other bar, Mr. Bike Man had ever so nonchalantly mentioned something about “the old mill road”. To which I gave zero importance and didn’t realize what he meant until we were actually there, in complete darkness on a very deeply grooved road (which is very annoying on a motorcycle, as it seems like the front tire has a mind of its own, especially in the dark). At this point our buddy ripped away into the night and left us with nothing but our sunglasses and our will to survive. We trudge on with our toes crossed that no animals or Bigfoots come out from the wilderness on each side of the road and put an end to this already very promising evening.
Pulling up to a four way stop I notice on my left like a Denny’s (paradise) sign on a long drive; there was Big Shots. A modest bar, with an overhanging canopy and about six steps leading up to the front door. After entering we beelined to the bar to continue the whiskey/beer combo, eager to catch a buzz after the blind ride in the darkness on the old mill road. The second our drinks are presented my accomplice Tyler is accosted by two women who simply cannot get over two important facts: how good looking he is and why he is in this particular bar. Admittedly he is very handsome, so I understood their first inquiry for sure. These nice ladies hung around for quite some time, which wasn’t unwelcomed at all, I mean we did come to party so…
Once we had swiftly finished a few rounds, I’m fairly certain we had met close to 7/10 of everyone in the bar. One of the many things I absolutely love about small towns is the people and how genuine and caring they are. In about an hour of hanging in this bar, 2 people had already offered to let us crash at their place, as well a few rounds were bought for us simply because we were visiting. Also, while outside I met a guy with a huge face tattoo from his forehead to his jaw, who pulled out 3 different knives he had concealed in his clothing, and he mentioned he had met the Norse god Odin…
3. Red Roof Inn
With the Bullfrog unable to rent us a room, and the offered floor spaces to crash politely declined, it seemed our only option for the night would be the Red Roof Inn, which was conveniently located a few kilometres away. Not to be confused with the small bank that it shares its parking lot with, although they do look very similar at 3am. So similar, in fact, that in my less than sober state I could not figure out why on earth the front doors to the motel were locked. I pulled and pulled, and cursed and cursed, until Tyler looked up, saw the sign, and informed me I was actually at the front of the bank, not the motel. To which we then fell down laughing hysterically. Then we finally found our correct front door.
While strolling through the lobby we concluded that ordering pizza would take way too long, and staying awake for that was a larger challenge we were willing to take on. So, the compromise we arrived at was to spend $30 USD on snacks from the vending machines.
The rest of the night was extremely blurry, but I do recall waking up in my clothes surrounded by chip and candy wrappers.
Without these 3 places, I feel like Jamestown wouldn’t have been such an epic time. I highly recommend visiting at least once, and I definitely recommend driving or riding there. Also I forgot my phone charger in the motel room so I’m definitely gonna be going back...
