Saturday, March 03, 2007

The Evolution of Athens Nightlife

I thought now would be a good time to step back and look at how the Classic City bar scene has evolved over the last 6 years. In bold were the bars that were really "in" at that particular time. If I've left off anything please let me know.

FRESHMAN YEAR

Fall 2001
- Uptown Lounge
- El Centro
- Georgia Theatre
- Bird Dog
- Firehouse

Spring 2002
- Bird Dog
- El Centro
- Uptown Lounge
- Georgia Theatre
- Roadhouse
- Molly O'Shea's

SOPHOMORE YEAR

Fall 2002
- Bourbon Street (upstairs opens)
- Bird Dog
- El Centro
- Last Call (a very short-lived phase)
- East/West
- Roadhouse

Spring 2003
- Hedges
- Bourbon Street
- J.R.'s
- East/West
- Roadhouse

JUNIOR YEAR

Fall 2003
- Bourbon Street
- General Beauregard's
- Boar's Head
- East/West

Spring 2004
- Bourbon Street (the long "bench" downstairs is replaced with booths)
- Boar's Head
- General Beauregard's
- Cutter's

SENIOR YEAR

Fall 2004
- Boar's Head
- Cutter's
- Bourbon Street
- Winery
- Roadhouse

Spring 2005
- Cutter's
- Allgood
- Bourbon Street
- Copper Creek
- Winery

LAW SCHOOL

Fall 2005
- Winery
- Firehouse
- Bourbon Street
- Genco
- Allgood
- The Arch

Spring 2006
- Firehouse
- Bourbon Street
- Genco
- Allgood
- The Arch
- Buddha Bar

Fall 2006
- Firehouse
- Bourbon Street
- Allgood
- The Arch
- Buddha Bar

A few remarks:

* During Freshman year, we'd always ride the Russell Hall night bus downtown, which would already be packed by the time it stopped at O-House.

* Since its controversial inception in the Spring of 2002, Bourbon Street has been the standard-bearer. However, because no one stays at Bourbon Street past 11, it never really qualified as an "in" bar except during its initial prime (Fall of '02).

* During the Spring of '03, there was a short-lived but intense Hedges phase. While it didn't last long, there was a period of about 3 months or so where it was literally the only bar we would go to (after Bourbon Street, of course).

* El Centro was known as the Savannah bar in early days. By 2004, most of the Savannah crowd had "graduated" to Cutters, which essentially became a white-collar, drug-free version of El Centro.

* Due to its close resemblence to the legendary Uptown Lounge, Firehouse immediately left a bad taste in everyone's mouth after freshman year. However, it has recently experienced a renaissance of sorts. Reason? $1 well pints between 9-10. But beware, the Mexicans start showing up around 11 or so.

3 comments:

tim said...

That short lived Hedges phase was awesome. Also, you should include Bourbon Street in Spring 2002 because that was when it opened and we did go there a few times. However, it did not reach its full potential until that Fall. The only thing I would include is my brief fling with Nowhere Bar in Fall 2001. But that is only if I could get in. You had to guess if the old hippie guy was in the front or back and if you guessed his door then Uptown Lounge it would be.

PMac said...

Out of curiosity, what and where was Bird Dog? I think this was the only place mentioned that I had never even heard of until now.

Patrick said...

Where On the Rocks is now.

It was basically a more mature version of what Gus' is now. Kids that were either from South Georgia or at least wanted to be from there.

A band would play there what seemed like every night of the week, they'd play the exact same song set every time: Dixieland Delight, Song of the South, etc. I remember we used to really hate that. A lot.

Anyway, they always talked about reopening but I think once Beauregard's opened that following year the owners realized it was a lost cause.