In 2014, The Third Edition became El Centro, an upscale Mexican restaurant. "What a wonderful place. "Space is the Place" was the soundtrack to radio spots for d.c. space. The restaurants stayed open until sometime around 2000. And before there was an American Cafe next door there was Brits 24 hour diner where all the jazz artists from Blues Alley would go at 4 in the morning and artists from the Cellar Door would hang there, as well as most of the waiters of Georgetown after their respective restaurants closed. This building used to house The Cellar Door, a live music club thatplayed host to famous artists such as Jimmy Buffet, Patti Smith, Carole King and manymore from1965-1981. I remember waking by the side steps of The Cellar Door and John Denver was just sitting there, strumming his guitar, enjoying some sun. Were not splitting the atom here.. The site you are referring to was The American Cafe in the 80s and may have been an Annies Steakhouse before. Dave Was Paramount not one of the early Washington gay enlightened restaurants? One of D.C.'s ultimate dive bars, The Raven has been tucked away in Mount Pleasant since 1935. As for Mr. Henrys, there may have been one in Georgetown, but Id go to Mr. Henrys on Capitol Hill, upstairs, to see Roberta Flack. "Sometimes we take our pants off and it really bums people out," Smith said, with Storz at his side, doing exactly that. A Classic. Or order the book at meetmeatthebarimhungry.com. 'The Bayou' Documents Legendary Georgetown Nightclub For one, its geographic location straddled the line between the prep schools and Ivy League institutions of the northeast, while also having a foot in the South with its fratty gentlemen and sorority belles. ", "Actually, Georgetown is my neighborhood," Smith said. He later moved over to M Street. A 'hip' bar scene in Towson during the 1970s - Baltimore Sun On M Street, in the recently opened disco called The Library, patrons from Potomac and other affluent suburbs gyrate under strobe lights and ignore the books lining the walls. 293 views, 6 likes, 4 loves, 2 comments, 1 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Preserving LGBT Sites in Metro DC: The Georgetown Grill, from 1948 to 1977, became a popular gay male hangout, especially. type); blond, dirty blond or light brown hair; a polo shirt with some sort of animal or mammal applique; a pair of madras pants or Bermuda shorts; and your name on the Britches mailing list for its new fall collection.. Some of the best years of my early life were spent within those walls. James Muggy (Mike) Smith, a self-proclaimed "filthy rich" Indiana University student from Arlington, and Brian Storz, a Tulane University student from Savannah, Ga., met in the Third Edition this summer. Elmos Fire Now it is an upscale Mexican restaurant called El Centro. Drinks were different back then. The Untold History of Postwar Washington's Nightlife They go to good colleges or have good jobs.. I was a bouncer at Crazy Horse. And this Georgetown dining room was the fanciest, Frenchest of them all. Admittedly, the quiet Wendy Beamish (Mare Winningham) is the only real preppy in St. Elmos Fire (described as a sweet-faced, insecure preppy in the script) as Alec Newbury (Judd Nelson) has advanced into more of a mid-1980s yuppie with his slick hair and Gordon Gekko-esque contrast-collar dress shirts. Topher, I hate to contradict you but there never was a Mr. Henrys at 1225 Wisconsin Ave. He taught at Duke Ellington also. Mike whipped the plate of half-eaten chop from the table. A portion of the discussion will be dedicated to remembering Jack Boyle, owner of the Cellar Door, who died last year. I think that may have been replaced by American Cafe, which was very popular. 4.5/5 Wonderful! I enjoyed F Scotts on 36th and Prospect. He draws the caricature of an attractive woman, or sometimes, he says, "I'll tell a woman she reminds me of an actress. Georgetown was getting overrun by high-end national retailers, movie theater chains, luxury hotels and cupcake shops, though a few bars had managed to hang on into this century. There was a time when some bartenders kept pace with their customers, when some chefs carefully calibrated their liquor intake over the night, sweating out the alcohol over a hot grill. Revisiting the 1980s Heyday of Georgteown's Fabled Preppy Bars In the Washington Post, January 7, 1982, there is an account of the unfathomably named Richard Hamilton Herrud Houghton III.. From May 1- May 3, a series of large scale demonstrations were held in DC protesting the war. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. Tales might involve bar hopping, disco dancing, lining up at music clubs, concert crowds or stylish restaurants. Two recent college grads, Nicky Williams and Buff McDonald, asked The Day Lilys aging owner, Jim Chin, if they could start renting his restaurant for Friday night parties. However, the Federal-style townhouse playing host to all those hormones was built in the mid-1800s. She was discovered there by Henry Yaffe, who brought her to his trendy new Georgetown club Mr. Henrys. There were lines of boat shoes out the door every Friday night. Its impossible to discuss 1225 Wisconsin without mentioning that it was the location of Mr. Henrys from 1967 to 1986. All Rights Reserved. He's the author of a new memoir, "Meet Me at the Bar, I'm Hungry." Website by Red Clay Creative. we found that we could get into clubs if we dressed up! I worked in a candy/gift store (Sharons Mom and Dad owned it) right across the street from Mr. Henrys,and I also worked just down M Street at Clothes Circuit, so Henrys was a very convenient destination. English . A one-square-mile neighborhood of cobble-stone streets and stately, federal-style homes centered around the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue and M Street, Georgetown nonetheless boasted more than 115 liquor licenses in an approximately 10-block area. If you were really classy, you drank Heineken, the green bottle telegraphing your suavity. He got a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service at Georgetown and a law degree from Catholic University. He influenced many and left a mark on the soul with his performances. Winstons was the go-to spot in the mid 80s. Hes not sure why. If by the 1980s New York was going new wave and hip-hop, club kids and cokeheads, in Washington, DC, a melting pot of fledgling lawyers, bankers and politicos still enjoyed dressing up in boat shoes, blue blazers and Brooks Brothers button-downs to hit the town. This article was featured in the InsideHook DC newsletter. In the early days, all gentlemen had to wear a coat and necktie. In 2014, The Third Edition became El Centro, an upscale Mexican restaurant. "It's a very loose, relaxed place," said Rick Del Grande, 23, who lives in the Marine barracks at Eighth and I streets SE. In my now 60 years on earth I never felt more connected to my fellow brothers then during the Sunday afternoon/evening Broadway show tune sing-a-longs with the piano player at the Mr Henrys at 1225 Wisconsin Ave from say 1977 to 1980. By the 21st century, Georgetown bar culture was dying as students began going out in the Adams Morgan neighborhood instead. Our guests praise the bar in our reviews. The space next door was Britches Great Outdoors, Britches of Georgetownwhich sold mens suitswas where Ralph Lauren currently is. Lets not forget Scandals which was definitely a college bar and the famous Tramps Discotheque both in the same building at corner of Wisconsin and Prospect! The antique-lined bar at 75-year-old seafood restaurant Crisfield. Peak hours are 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., during which period the D.C. Department of Transportation estimates about 10,000 cars and 6,000 pedestrians travel through the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue and M Street. It was the Duke Zeibert's of Dance, the Sans Souci of Sweat. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com. http://www.angelfire.com/art2/delacroix_berthier/meet_de_la_croix.%20part%203.htm. While Chinese Disco had long since moved locations to Prospect Street NW, even it would close in 2018. Champions closed their doors in 2002. Performers included Count Basie and Woody Herman. A good percentage of the people you see here never even went to prep school.. For one night only, resurrecting a Georgetown nightclub called The scene was burning so bright, however, that it couldnt possibly last forever. And, of course, it was partially the model for the St. Elmos bar in St. Elmos Fire. There was high crime, a lot of drugs, prostitution Georgetown was where the going-out scene ended up being simply because the rest of the city wasnt as nice.. This bar (known primarily as a gay bar) was famous for being the place where Roberta Flack launched her career. In his day, a good bartender worked fast. Would eat some nearly every lunch. But Mike always had a soft spot for the bar both sides of it. Georgetown Most things at The Tombs aren't older than a college senior today. If I could turn back time! Washington DC's Oldest Bars - The Tune Inn - Thrillist There were family restaurants, jazz clubs, punk bars and average joe-type dives, many frequented by Marines from the nearby barracks. The club, which was a regular stop on East Coast tours by UK bands from the late 1970s on, featured artists including U2 (their second show in the United States), Kiss, Guns N' Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers (performing twice in 1988 which would be their final DC shows with founding members Hillel Slovak and Jack Irons), The Only Ones, Squeeze, Peter Tosh, Basia (1988, her first show in the United States), The Police, Phish, Leftover Salmon, Dave Matthews Band, Blue yster Cult, Lindsey Buckingham, The New Orleans Radiators, Hootie & the Blowfish, Billy Joel, Bon Jovi, Dire Straits, the Tom-Tom Club, Acoustic Junction, Steeleye Span, From Good Homes, Foreigner, The Kinks, Todd Rundgren (backed by Utopia on this stop of his 1978 Back to the Bars tour), Yellow Magic Orchestra and other artists that influenced the evolution of rock as well as rhythm and blues from the 1960s through the 1990s. It was a safe spot to meet. Sometimes we take our pants off and it really bums people out, claimed James Muggy (Mike) Smith, a self-proclaimed filthy rich kid who was wearing a pink-and-green plaid bow tie and pink sweater when he was interviewed in yet another 1982 WaPo article on the scene. This establishment was a left over remanent of the 1970s disco scene. [5], The club was owned from 1953 to 1980 by the Tramonte family who designed it to have an intimate atmosphere like a family. GM was a big fan of Britches back in the day when a Britches Great Outdoors was at his local Connecticut mall. Ladin, lingua ladina . Bros in polos and hungry clubbers start the night with massive plates of Irish nachos before climbing the stairs to the hot and heavy dance floor, wrote one review. It occupied the location of a former music club called The Shadows. For previous columns, visit washingtonpost.com/johnkelly. It was the spot to be on Sunday nights. By the 21st century, Georgetown bar culture was dying as students began going out in the Adams Morgan neighborhood instead. Georgetown Today, July 1970 The overwhelming majority of the faculty believed that we, right on the doorstep of the national government, just could not conduct business as usual. The action stops only after 2 a.m., when serving liquor is forbidden, and the streets slowly empty as people try to remember where they parked. The scene was burning so bright, however, that it couldnt possibly last forever. Georgetown Nightlife Remembered | The Georgetowner And there was nothing gay about Dinos. By 1980, WaPo was offering a laundry list of the clientele to expect there: Mt. Great memories. The Cellar Door was a 163-seat music club located at 34th & M Street NW in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. from 1964 through January 7, 1982. Bars & Clubs. Upstairs was a deli/market called Il Pane (thats Italian for bread). By 1968 she was drawing such a crowd to the club that Yaffe opened a special room at his other location near Capitol Hill to showcase her talent. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. There are two worlds in Georgetown. A rich tan (and were not talking about the Q.T. The 15 Best Bars in Georgetown, Washington D.C. - TripSavvy However, Poseurs loyal followers hosted a 30-year reunion, so check out their event on Facebook Event. For one, its geographic location straddled the line between the prep schools and Ivy League institutions of the northeast, while also having a foot in the South with its fratty gentlemen and sorority belles. At one point, every place on M Street had a manager or chef who was someone from my class, Mike Soper says as I tuck into my oyster poboy at Bobby Vans downtown. card. This location has been a bar since 1952 when it was first the Shamrock. There was a terrific creperie nearby. Her date swallowed hard on his fried fish. News, advice and insights for the most interesting man in the room. Where: Find: Home / Spain / Montserrat, Valencian Community / Bar Poliesportiu De Monserrat; ", But Bruce Norris, cartoonist for The Georgetowner newspaper and a Nathan's regular, goes about finding a companion creatively. Vernon College girls in Pappagallo shoes, McMullen blouses, Villager skirts and Liberty sweaters; Georgetown Foreign Service School types in some of the first Gucci shoes and Paul Stuart suits seen in Washington: tousled Irish Catholic kids in jeans and tweed sportcoats, whose great regret in life was not being old enough to have gotten drunk with Dylan Thomas at the White Horse in Greenwich Village.. [7], The Bayou was known for hosting benefits, including one for Toni Wilson, a singer who would frequent the club with her family. However, if it was dead all week, on the weekends it would become The Chinese Disco, or Chidi, a packed spot where he would dance the shag to beach music and flirt with local coeds it was then the epicenter of Washington DCs preppy playground. Those were the days.Let me tell you. Great music! The spacious bar offered martinis and Sinatra music, while a preppy look acted as the cover charge. Its still a lot like a frat party, except now, because of the recent prep craze, you might see a Marine or someone from [the bar] across the street just because its cool to be prep, explained another suffixed partier, Jean-Charles Dibbs III, then a barely-legal Republican political aide. You can stand and talk and see the sights.". There was high crime, a lot of drugs, prostitution Georgetown was where the going-out scene ended up being simply because the rest of the city wasnt as nice.. [8], In the late 1990s, The Bayou was owned by Dave Williams (Cellar Door Productions), who was also responsible for putting on the concerts at DAR Constitution Hall and the Capital Centre. I had many meals and drinks there. He looks back on his career in a new self-published memoir: Meet Me at the Bar, Im Hungry (Dog Ear Publishing; $16.95 paperback, $26.95 hardcover). In the latest Pelecanos The Way It Was Derek Strange has Roberta Flack starting out at Clydes. Theres a lot of booze in the book. While in a restaurant the bar is a small part of the overall seating, in a saloon the bar might represent a third to a half of the total seats. (202) 387-8411. Or have you accepted the fact that M Street is an eerily too similar replica of your hometown mall? The entire team was very kind. In the early days, all gentlemen had to wear a coat and necktie. Montserrat, Valencian Community Hotels from $54 - Travelocity Thursdays was E.J. Not a fan of Rhino, but its a shame to see rising rents continue to reduce Georgetowns diversity of storefronts. That same year, WaPo was already pointing toward Georgetowns end days, and they werent even aware of the looming crack epidemic which would cripple the city and turn it into the nations murder capital. J. Pauls would close a few months after that, marking the end of an era, according to Eater. The Boy-Whore World. Reportedly decked in khakis and polished penny loafers, blond hair and blue eyes, he was a Georgetown junior at the time. Next door in 1993 there was a branch of Roberto Donnas Il Radiccho brand restaurant. I think the gay steakhouse was called Paramount? Co-proprietor Hugh Kelly was relaxing after the kitchen had closed for the night only to be asked if he could cook up a pair of steaks for some late travelers. He got a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service at Georgetown and a law degree from Catholic University. "I spend a lot of time here. Comments? I ran an escort service called the Stables and many of my models would meet there clients there. It even got a moment of Hollywood fame as the beloved St. Elmos Fire bar in the 1980s classic St. [citation needed], The Bayou was a stop on the national tours of musical groups and solo artists. Cerphe Colwell: musicplanetradio.com. 1. Sometimes we take our pants off and it really bums people out, claimed James Muggy (Mike) Smith, a self-proclaimed filthy rich kid who was wearing a pink-and-green plaid bow tie and pink sweater when he was interviewed in yet another 1982 WaPo article on the scene. But he didnt fall off the face of the earth. Get InsideHook in your inbox. "Well," she said with a drawl, "We're gay. "Wally, you can punch me in the face five times and I'd still look better than you," said a tall, lanky fellow as he pulled out his wallet. The American Caf was next door down the street. In 1970, All Souls was the site of the Black Panthers' Peoples Revolutionary Constitutional Convention, an event staged with the strong support of DC's Gay Liberation Front. The people that come here are from good families, explained one Chidi-goer at the time, differentiating them from the non-preppy riff-raff. Panelists include: The Guards: This one was more popular with the post-collegiate set, particularly in W. Bushs Washington when the formerly scuzzy basement became the still scuzzy Gryphon Room. If you are talking the late 80s-early 90s, you forgot Winstons. "We want to be free to live as a community and not some kind of glorified freak show," said Paul Chadwell, a resident of Potomac Street NW, who, like many Georgetowners, says he is fed up with the traffic, noise and vandalism that are the byproducts of nearby discos. Third edition was my go to spot from 92-96. Then it was taken over by the famous disco club Tramps, run by Washington Playboy Mike O'Harro. Though Lisa Birnbachs iconic 1980 Official Preppy Handbook was meant to lampoon the aesthetic, it instead galvanized it, and, just like the early-aughts Brooklyn hipster movement, all irony was soon stripped away. An American Bar, according to its marquees subtitle, it opened in 1963 in a former motorcycle hangout as the first full-sized bar in the District since Prohibition. The spacious bar offered martinis and Sinatra music, while a preppy look acted as the cover charge. In Mr. Smith's, while the young frolic in the garden patio, older patrons get melancholy around the piano bar, singing, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," "Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing" and "Eidelweiss," harmonizing with strangers in a minor key. "That block is becoming another 14th Street strip," said attorney Courts Oulahan, who is representing Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3A and the Georgetown Citizens Association in an old battle aimed at reducing the number of Class C (restaurants) liquor licenses granted in the area. Roadside Pictures. The 1970s were a memorable time no matter where you livedbut here in Ohio it was extra groovy. A one-square-mile neighborhood of cobble-stone streets and stately, federal-style homes centered around the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue and M Street, Georgetown nonetheless boasted more than 115 liquor licenses in an approximately 10-block area. I think the infamous Maximilian Rochambeau had a club in that building back in the early Nineties. Flickr/Hunter Desportes 2) In the early 1970s, the country embroiled in the Vietnam War. An American Bar, according to its marquees subtitle, it opened in 1963 in a former motorcycle hangout as the first full-sized bar in the District since Prohibition. Not exclusively gay but ahead of its time? For the record: Dinos Paramont Steakhouse, with a parking lot to the left, and Mr. Henrys to the right, and American Cafe to the right of that. Likewise, if in the 1970s, Georgetown was mostly known for its thrift stores (such as Commander Salamander), record shops and even a disco bar called Tramps, that too was in flux. While Maryland raised its drinking age to 21 in 1982 and Virginia did the same in 1985, the District of Columbia held out, wrote Hunter Main for The Hoya Georgetown Universitys student newspaper in trying to explain the era. The best was very comfortable. Past Bars in Georgetown By Curtis Newman on Sunday, April 15, 2012 at 11:01 AM D.C. bars back in the day If they have an address I have the Matches with Address and Ph# 15 Minute club 18th Street Lounge 21st Amendment was a GW hangout 3514 (12th St NE) 5th Column 930 Club (Was F St now 815 vst) Abbey Road ACME Bar and Grill Photograph: Courtesy Blues Alley. Occasionally on Wednesdays and always on Saturdays, the premier preppy spot was The Third Edition, or Thirds, a casual, wood-paneled restaurant opened in 1969 that in the evenings would become a nightclub full of Georgetown and George Washington students. The. Mike, 63, is semi-retired now. ", Not everyone in Mr. Henry's was as happy as the wide-eyed North Carolina visitor, though. Its still just a drink, Mike says. Mr. Smiths was arguablythe second oldest continuing bar in the Georgetown neighborhood as it was founded in 1962. The owner sold it to a corporation and then it began to slide. Panelists include: Mike Tramonte: The Bayou Bill Scanlan: MTITV, filmmaker of "The Bayou: DC's Killer Joint" Friendships often begin in Georgetown bars. It was kind of like Tuscany in that everyone had to go there at least once.. That same year, WaPo was already pointing toward Georgetowns end days, and they werent even aware of the looming crack epidemic which would cripple the city and turn it into the nations murder capital. Revisiting the 1980s Heyday of Georgetown's Fabled Preppy Bars