I live in Atlanta, a city not exactly known for great neighborhoods. But, I happen to live in an area known as Little Five Points, one of the few truly cool places to live in this city. For the uninitiated, it’s a neighborhood full of bars, restaurants, shops, tattoo parlors, head shops and the like. We’ve got yer hippies, yer punks, yer gays and lesbeens. We even got some yuppies (but we don’t tell nobody 'bout them-screw that Starbuck’s). Most of all, we’ve got the Euclid Avenue Yacht Club, a truly great Neighborhood Bar. A rarity in Atlanta.
I am what they call a Regular there. I am known by name to all the staff there. I should be, because I am paying most of their rents, sending their children to college, enabling their latest tattoos and rehab stays. I play poker there on Tuesdays (sometimes Wednesdays), darts on other nights, grab-ass all weekend. The thing is: the place is full of Regulars. I don’t know how the bartenders keep them all straight, but they greet probably 60% of the clientele by name. I’ve met people from every walk of life in that place, and I never fail to have an interesting conversation- be it physics, film, music, sex, politics or weather- I can always find someone to listen to my bullshit. As a recent divorcee, I know there are places where i could meet more girls, but they won’t be Yacht Club Girls, so I’ll be patient.
It’s a hole-in-the-wall. Some people would call it a dive. I call it Home (sometimes I call it Moe’s). There is no jukebox, the staff plays the tunes, and they know what they’re doing. There will never be some drunk sorority chick playing the same stupid Bon Jovi song five times in a row. It’s got History, too (at least in Atlanta terms- been open since the sixties- give us a break, Sherman burned everything). It was a Biker Bar for a long time (and still is, some days), and still has that feel, but nobody looks at you funny if you walk in with a suit on, as long as you’re not serving any subpoenas. Most of the bartenders have been there forever, which adds to the familiarity factor. It changes, but it always stays the same.
So, what about you? Are you a regular somewhere? Does it feel like home? And has anyone been to the EAYC? Let me know, I’ll buy you a drink next time you’re there.
I liked it a lot, it definately had a more real city feel than S. Florida.
Buckhead is kind of an age-dependent neighborhood. If you’re in your early-to-mid-twenties, it’s right up your alley. To me, it conjures up images of frat boys pissing in the streets and thugs pulling gats on people in the parking lot (oh shit- the Chamber of Commerce is gonna have my ass for that). But check out Little Five, Virginia-Highland (more Yuppie, but some really good bars), East Atlanta (rough around the edges) or Midtown (hot right now). I guess I was comparing Atlanta to places like Chicago, NYC, and Boston.