What started as a few beers and a grill quickly grew to the network of structures seen today on the site of Cartoon Saloon, including the main saloon building (not a saloon), a nearby structured marked as Sal Men Nello’s Café (not a café) and a short wooden structure in between that houses an array of Rankin’s work and an honor system refrigerator filled with beer and topped with a donation bucket. Visitors are welcome to bring their own beverages or dip into the refrigerator for a Lone Star or two in exchange for a donation of some kind.
The roadside oddity element of Cartoon Saloon attracts visitors interested in a couple of pictures, but the real Cartoon Saloon experience includes stumbling upon a regular or two sitting next to the honor system refrigerator. There are no defined hours of operation at Cartoon Saloon, though catching someone helming the fridge is more likely on a Saturday afternoon or other prime drinking time. Though Rankin and friends Paul Denmark, Brian Coyle and Marc “Biscuit” Lafrenais started the ball rolling on what became Cartoon Saloon, a handful of other regulars today make Cartoon Saloon a recurring stop.
After grabbing a beer, wandering the property is the natural next step but the nondescript building that houses Rankin’s art selections is filled with its own set of stimuli. A boar head with a cowboy hat, cutouts of Elmer Fudd and John Wayne, a Lone Star-branded armadillo, all of it exists in the gaps between framed pieces of Rankin’s work. A small dispenser filled with loaner beer koozies sits on the wall just outside of the alcove that houses the refrigerator.