People write all sorts of things on the brick walls at Home Den.
The black walls are covered with neon yellow, pink and green highlighter or chalk.
One of the scrawled notes even compares the bar to a "hot chick."
Home Den isn't a chick, but if it were, it would be an old lady who doesn't cook and smells like beer.
But with lots of inner beauty.
Much of the bar's lighting comes via neon beer signs. Miniature NASCAR auto hoods are affixed to the ceiling. A card table behind the bar is crowded with a Folgers coffee canister, a bag of bagels, paper plates and napkins.
Home Den won't win you over with its interior decorating. But you'll love the cheap pool. Most pool tables in town cost at least 75 cents a game. The four tables at Home Den cost 50 cents.
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The North First Avenue joint isn't a sports bar, necessarily. It doesn't have NFL Sunday Ticket, so if there's an out-of-market football game that you want to see, you'd be better look elsewhere.
But if you're looking for a quiet place where you can shoot pool and watch whatever is on ESPN that evening, Home Den is as good a place as any. The bartenders will set the TV to whatever channel you want to watch. And there are sets conveniently located in every corner of the bar, so you won't have to crane your neck to see them.
Behr Von Bear says he has been drinking at Home Den for 13 years. He goes there to play poker and pool, and to watch NASCAR.
"During race season, this is without a doubt the place to be," he says. "We take NASCAR very seriously."
Von Bear describes Home Den as "a damn nice bar."
"Come to think of it, I met one of my ex-wives here," he says.
On Monday nights, bartender "Big" Mike Vinson, who also tends bar at The Buffet, at 538 E. Ninth St., brings in his PlayStation 2 so that customers can play "Guitar Hero: III." Vinson isn't one to sit on the sidelines. He connects his system to the TV behind the bar so he can play, too.
Tuesdays and Wednesdays are pool league nights.
On Thursdays and Saturdays, Home Den hosts free poker tournaments. Because there is no buy-in, players accumulate points, not money. The players with the most points at the end of a two- to three-month session qualify to play in a final showdown. The winner gets a Las Vegas prize package, including gift certificates for plane tickets and a weekend stay at a Sin City hotel.
Fridays are karaoke nights at Home Den, and according to bar owner Frank Ortiz, they are the most popular nights with patrons.
Ortiz, who managed several local bars before buying Home Den four years ago, says he doesn't sing along.
"When I was manager of the Bum Steer, they used to make us do that," he says. "No more."
On Sunday nights, there are no poker tournaments or pool leagues, karaoke or "Guitar Hero." It's just business as usual.
Von Bear, who is drinking his beer straight from the pitcher, says Home Den is his kind of place.
"The people are amicable," he says. "The mood is tolerable. There's never any real hustle."
Mark Martin, another regular, says he likes the mood there.
"It's a bunch of cool people here," he says.
It won't win any beauty contests, but for these guys, the Home Den is pretty much home.
Home Den
• Where: 2607 N. First Ave.
• Hours: 10 a.m.-2 a.m. daily.
• Happy hour: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Mondays-Fridays, $2.25 domestic long necks and well drinks, $3 domestic pitchers.
• Cover charge: None.
• Phone: 622-9271.
