I got word this week that a beloved Tucson landmark has fallen to the fate of the demolition team.

The Bum Steer was a Tucson favorite for almost 40 years. Restaurant and watering hole for a vast number of the University of Arizona students and locals. The place was part of a chain of 8 restaurants that were created by a small group of airline pilots that wanted a place in their stop towns to hang out. They had six in California, one in Tempe Arizona (Minder Binders) and The Bum Steer in Tucson.

The Bum Steer was unique , inside looked like a mix of Hollywood backlot warehouse props and a junkyard upended inside a building. I remember as a teen going there with some friends back in its hayday in the 70s and was utterly blown away at all the decorations. One wall in the back was literally wallpapered in centerfolds from all sorts of porn magazines, both male and female. The main room had a 1880s Hearse suspended from the ceiling, complete with period coffin, a 1897 US field artillery cannon, a small 2 place Piper Cub airplane, numerous stuffed animals, mounted heads and every imaginable nic-nac nailed, screwed or bolted to the walls, posts ,ceiling.

The bathrooms were fun, each were marked "Mens" and " Womens" at the door....but with tiny arrows pointing to the other bathroom. So women walking into the actual mens room were met with the customary urinals and nude female centerfolds shellacked to the walls and a sign "Be sure to wash hands after masturbation", the womens bathroom had centerfolds of nude men and the same notice.

Barrels full of salted peanuts would be about the eating areas, and the peanut shells would litter the floor, art work, graffiti, traffic signs, even WW2 rifles bolted to the wall at one booth. The bar itself was a huge, oak hand crafted masterpiece and there were two of them, one on the main floor, one on the second floor. After every U of A game the place would be packed with students, every Halloween, they had wonderful costume contests with decent cash prizes.

I would do numerous Halloweens there, my first was in 1978 and doing Animal House Toga party theme with friends, the next year I would go as the Pope. A year later myself and two friends went as Mormon Missionaries. We were complete in the Missionary Black suit and white shirt, and I even had realistic name tags made up. I went as Elder Berry, My friends were Elder Statesman and Elder Older. And since Mormon missionaries traveled in pairs and we were three, we said "Elder Younger was corrupted by hippies" . We actually had the folks attending that night thinking we were ACTUAL Mormon missionaries and they wouldn't come near us. We had book of Mormons in our hands, and tambourines and we sang "Hare Mormon, Hare Mormon, Come and join us, be a Mormon, To Mormon Heaven you shall seek, to Boy Scout Heaven you shall see!" We positioned ourselves along a bridgeway to the main bar and basically trapped everybody, thinking we were actual missionaries. One person finally tried to push past us and we all chimed up "HOweryah Nayber, Want to join the Church of the Latter Day Moron?" The guy blinked at us, then shouted to the others "These guys aren't Mormons, they're MORONS!!! LATTER DAY MORONS!!!"

That broke the ice, we literally 'converted' everybody at the Steer that night.

Another year , Richard Konkle,  michaelB303, and a few others , we went as the Scotsman from Monty Python, arms outstretched, lockstepped around the place, playing Scotland the Brave. We were popular, took second place (We lost to Glenda the Good Witch, she flashed her tits for a greater audience cheer! Richard smiled a huge smile and said "That was certainly unexpected and entertaining!")

But the place was a favorite with the Tucson Mob for Burger Madness, The Steer served fantastic food and huge ass burgers and a massive pile a fries for $4.00. We quickly learned that when you placed your order, you gave your first name. And Once I had my name called and 4 other Jim's showed up to collect their orders. So I started using a handle at The Bum Steer, When asked for my name, I said "Bozo", the waitress blinked, then said "Okay!" Soon over the PA system "Bozo, Come on down, your order is ready!" It worked, I got my food. Mike Kelly would use Desert Dog, Karno was simply using Karno, (Though Wolf Smith convinced the caller to use 'Fart Stick' instead of Karno to call him down for his food. The name stuck a few visits) The Mob would always take out of town visitors to the Steer for Burger Madness.

After I moved away in 94, I would visit the Steer when I was in town, later in 2010 the Steer was closed, I was bummed out. Seemed the restaurant business was a tough business to compete in, even the neighboring Wildcat House had closed. in 2017 they auctioned off the buildings contents, there was also a bad fire. And this month they finally tore down the Bum Steer.

I still have a Bum Steer T-shirt (Sadly a size large) and a book of matches, plus a old menu. I would visit Tempe's Minder Binders a couple times with the late McMoo after I had done Estrella Wars, but it lacked the Bum Steers weirdness.

RIP Bum Steer, you were a part of life in Tucson from the 70s-2010.