18 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY march 2-8, 2023 www.montereycountyweekly.com The Trivial Matters At 7:51pm on a cold Tuesday night, customers make a steady stream in through the door at London Bridge Pub in Monterey. Tony Malokas greets many by name as they hand over a dollar bill, grab an answer sheet and retreat to their area of the sprawling bar. There’s no time to waste—trivia starts at 8pm sharp. An older man who has been sitting at the bar wanders up to Malokas. “I’ve never been to one of your trivia nights before,” he says. “Can you tell me about it?” Malokas runs through the basics—$1 to play, 51 questions, winner takes all. “Can you give me a sample question?” the man asks. “Sure,” Malokas says, reaching— apparently effortlessly—into his vast mental vault. “What are the four state capitals named after presidents?” “Hmmm,” the man intones. “That’s a good question! You got me thinking.” And with that, he ambles away. Soon 8pm comes and the trivia begins. Q: With roughly 25 years of experience, who is probably the longest-running trivia night host on the Monterey Peninsula? Tony Malokas wasn’t necessarily an obvious trivia host, but he does really love trivia. His knowledge of superlatives and lists and stats is wide. Did you know that despite being a beloved American rock icon, Bruce Springsteen has never had a Billboard Hot 100 number-one hit? Or that Wyoming, a 97,914-square-mile state, is home to just two escalators? It all began years ago when Malokas was playing trivia regularly at the now-defunct Mucky Duck. One week the bar needed a backup host and Malokas offered to fill in. “It was a little intimidating because I was 26 and I was a shy kid,” Malokas says. He must have pulled it off, though, because the gig stuck: Malokas has been hosting trivia for about 25 years now, starting at the Mucky Duck (which later became the Bull and Bear, before closing permanently) and then moving to London Bridge. There was a hiatus when London Bridge changed ownership, but Malokas estimates he’s been back in action for about 15 years since bar owner John Eales “coaxed [him] out of retirement.” “I really enjoy it,” says Malokas, who in his day job works as a caddie at Pebble Beach. “Of course when you’re a player you’re like, they should ask this! And, they should ask that! Now I can.” Trivia at London Bridge happens on Tuesdays, but it begins on Sundays Left: While Tony Malokas doesn’t play regularly anymore (“two nights a week is enough,” he says, of the Sunday or Monday night he spends writing questions and then the Tuesday hosting gig), the London Bridge Pub trivia host is a true trivia lover. With about 25 years of hosting experience, Malokas has thought a lot about what makes for good trivia. “I feel like I could talk about trivia for hours—but at the same time it’s not rocket science.” Right: Other Brother Beer Co. trivia night host JD Bates keeps the party rolling on Tuesday nights with a specially curated playlist of songs to play between questions. A team at London Bridge Pub’s trivia night huddles over an answer. London Bridge hosts a trivia night by and for trivia lovers—some teams have been playing together for decades. Monterey County’s trivia nights are a lifestyle, and a performance piece, for the hosts behind the questions. By Tajha Chappellet-Lanier Photos by Daniel Dreifuss
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