Friendly Neighbor

It’s not Houdini’s, but Callahan’s, so there are not a lot of surprises in store for the patrons of the longtime Van Nuys watering hole. Callahan’s is a big old bar on the corner of Woodley Avenue and Saticoy Street near the Van Nuys Airport that caters to pool and dart players, diners, rockers and, of course, the basic elbow-benders.

And, yup, there really is a Callahan, but he’s around 80 years old and has retired to Arizona. The main man at Callahan’s these days is Mike Alonzo, who had to be up for Father of the Year honors after giving junior a swell present.

“Originally, I bought the place for my son about three years ago. But you know how kids are--he’s gone and I’m still here. When we first started, there was a drug and gang problem here, but we quickly cleaned that up and those people are all long gone.”

The inside of Callahan’s is rather rustic, with lots of wood and not so many Ventura Boulevard yuppies dressed to impress with that cell phone surgically implanted in their skull and that oh-so-right hair. Instead, it’s just a bunch of plain folks hanging out. There’s a separate pool, dart and video room. There’s also a large music room near the big stage and the bigger dance floor .

And unlike most bars, which show sports on the big screen even if it means showing soccer just to have sports on the big screen, Callahan’s makes thoughtful video choices. It was showing a particularly funny episode of “Third Rock From the Sun” on a recent Wednesday night. So, typically, the off nights tend to be quiet, with pool and dart leagues Monday through Wednesday nights.

“We get different groups of people at different times,” said Alonzo. “In the daytime, we get the airport business crowd, not so much the commuter types, but the people that work at the airport. At night, we get a younger rock ‘n’ roll crowd because we have music four nights a week, but I’m 55, and I prefer the older crowd.”

Providing a venue for up-and-coming bands is invaluable when it comes to building a happening local music scene, and that’s exactly what’s up at Callahan’s. From Thursday through Sunday, things approach a mild uproar when up to six live bands play per night. The place is fairly covered with posters of rock bands posing, many of them local bands. Other times, accomplished roots rock bands such as Danny Blitz & the Jet Age Hoods rock Callahan’s.

Rock music, pool, free popcorn, beer--the patrons of Callahan’s have had it too good too long. What else is there? Food, maybe?

“When I first got here, we had a couple of greasy-spoon kind of cooks, and I got rid of them. Now we’ve got people that know what they’re doing, and we just have good food at good prices,” said Alonzo.

As far as Alonzo is concerned, none of the newer amenities at Callahan’s gets in the way of its ages-old neighborly charm.

“Callahan’s has been here forever, and it looks like it, too,” he said. “I like it when people come and have a good meal and a beer. That’s what I want when I go out.”

BE THERE

Callahan’s, 7557 Woodley Ave., Van Nuys. Open Mike and Open Jam Night is tonight; My Ty Mo, Aardvark, River Bottom Nightmare Band and Dead Rats play original rock Friday; Greg Howard, Death & Taxes and Triple X play original rock Saturday; Tryptonite and the Vengeance Brothers play original rock Sunday; pool and dart leagues Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday; (818) 786-9542.