The other week when I was interviewed on The Phil Luciano Show on WMBD Radio, I mentioned that I’d love to visit people that have bars in their home or garage on this 365 bars tour. Well, that afternoon I got a message from someone who said her husband had built a unique bar in their basement and invited me to stop by for a visit on this 365 bar tour.
And so that’s where we’re headed today…see how easy all of this is?
The bar is located in a basement in Elmwood, I’llinois and if you scroll down, you’ll be magically transported there!
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Bar Number 16: Jason & Shannon’s Motorcycle Basement Bar In Elmwood, Illinois, Sunday, January 25, 2026
And baboom, though the magic of these here interwebs, here we are in Elmwood, Illinois in Jason and Shannon’s basement bar.
There’s our hosts for the afternoon, holding court at their basement bar, Shannon and Jason! Great to meet both of them and they are looking fantastic this afternoon!
They built their home here in Elmwood with the help of Jason’s dad, who’s a carpenter and other relatives and friends back in 2013.
They decided to add a bar in the basement in 2015 and by 2017 they had it all done and it looks spectacular.
At first glance it’s very impressive, but when you move the stools away from the front of the bar, it reveals something quite spectacular…
There’s a Triumph Motorcycle behind glass in the base of the bar and it was built by Jason!
Jason said he built the motorcycle from various parts and the motor is from 1965! How cool is this? In all of the bars I’ve been in, I have never seen something like this!
The top of the bar is very unique too!
There’s over 7,000 pennies on here below a glass top. Jason and Shannon placed all of these pennies on the bar and Jason said it took a couple of evenings to finish the whole thing. They picked out some of the shinier pennies to spell out a “B” which is the first letter of their last name.
You’ve heard of Penny Lane, well this is Penny Bar!
Even the bar stools in here have an unusual twist to them, Jason and Shannon covered these stools with assorted motorcycle t-shirts they’ve collected through the years.
There’s all kinds of cool bar knick-knacks on display in here including a large collection of beer mugs and these two vintage Galilano statues from 1964, which were a gift from Shannon’s parents.
I love the classic beer lights on display behind the bar.
The rest of the basement is very cool too with a pool and shuffleboard tables and this unique headlight table built by Jason.
There’s also vintage beer and pop culture framed posters on the walls.
Two of the regulars down here include, Stormy and Scout. They also pull duty as security, so you better behave when you’re down here!
I had a fantastic Sunday afternoon hanging out with Jason and Shannon at their spectacular motorcycle basement bar in Elmwood!
Thanks to both of them for inviting me and letting it be bar number 16 on our 365 bar tour, it was a blast!
If you have a basement or garage bar you’d like me to feature on this tour, just send me an email and I’ll try and add it to the tour schedule!
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