He vows to fight for it. And Kerry McCants of the county's planning department says the sewer system must happen before any big commercial development takes root in Friant. But all this political stuff drifts away, like cigarette smoke over a beer, when you step into Mike's bar, a legendary biker hangout in Friant. A boat with Christmas tree lights rests atop the modest building with faded gray walls. Friends of owner Mike Lemon put the boat on the roof several years ago.
Fruitless mulberries shade some of the bar's parking lot.
Inside the bar, several bikini panties hang on display, courtesy of women who slipped them off in the bathroom, Lemon says with a lusty laugh. Dusty beer bottles and a row of shotgun, rifle and pistol bullets line a shelf behind the bar. Mike's Bar has known fights. Suffice to say, in April 1974, a Los Angeles motorcycle gang called the Mongols rumbled with local bikers in Mike's parking lot. Shots were fired, and one of the Mongols took a bullet in the leg, according to Lemon and press accounts.