A Little Bit of Nebraska Down By the City Line

Nestled in the northern corner of a drab, industrial-area mini-mall that is home to a dry cleaners, a quick printers and a carpet store, Vern’s Cornhusker Club and Suds Pub rocks into the wee hours long after the nearby businesses have shut their doors for the night.

Sinatra’s “New York, New York” competes with Janis Joplin’s “Get It While You Can” for the most-played song on the juke box (three songs for a quarter) in this dimly lit hideaway.

No mixed drinks here; this is strictly an after-work-where’s-the-beer bar. Domestic beer, that is. By the pitcher. Few stop by the Cornhusker for anything else.

Snagging a pool table on a Friday night takes sheer talent and that serious “I’m playing the next game” look in the eye. And complaining about too much smoke in the air is thickly taboo.

Owner/bartender Vern is a true Cornhusker guy. It doesn’t take a sports buff to figure out that there’s a little Nebraska even way out here on the Anaheim-Fullerton city line. One look at the layers and layers of red and white bumper stickers, the seat cushions, the tumblers and the poster-size photos of men with shaved heads covering every inch of the wall, and Vern’s love for the University of Nebraska football team is pretty clear.

Besides beer and tunes, Vern’s serves up some of the best shoe string potatoes around and people say the burgers (less than $2) can’t be beat. And one Nebraska native who visited said the Runza--a meat, cheese and sauerkraut pie--was just like Mom’s.

So don’t change your work shirt. Just bring quarters for the machines, and a craving for treasures Nebraskan.

Vern’s Cornhusker Club and Suds Pub, 645 S. State College Blvd., Fullerton. Open daily, 9 a.m. to 1 a.m. (714) 526-5428.