There was another room in back down a hallway,which had a bar and piano. Mr. Henrys Georgetown catered to a gay crowd but never declared itself as such because of its dependence on the tourist crowd in Georgetown. But if it was, I would suggest that you check out this website to learn more. Washington DC's Oldest Bars - The Tune Inn - Thrillist To me, a saloon is where the dining room seating is right there with the bar, Mike says. Spilling over from sidewalks onto jammed streets, strolling in cosmopolitan chic or tour-bus casual, they stake out the shops, restaurants and nightclubs and claim the elite, historic district as their own. It closed in 2011. Mike, 63, is semi-retired now. . As for Richard Hamilton Herrud Houghton III, that original WaPo article is literally the only time his full formal name would ever be mentioned in the annals of American journalism. Clarke-like bar/restaurant, a reference to Manhattans iconic preppy paradise. I was pretty cool with the bartenders and doormen and lots of ladies (current and graduates). "What a wonderful place. 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. Half of Mikes book is recipes, scaled down for household use, and half is behind-the-scenes reminiscences. I could go anywhere in Georgetown and not spend a dime. "It's a very loose, relaxed place," said Rick Del Grande, 23, who lives in the Marine barracks at Eighth and I streets SE. Mike will be selling and signing books from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Boss Shepherds, 1229 Pennsylvania Ave. NW; from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Southside 815, 815 S. Washington St., Alexandria; and as part of a dinner special Oct. 29 at Clydes of Georgetown. Nor the fact that an endorsement from then-Mayor Marion Berry would make September 30, 1986 the final day 18-year-olds could legally drink in Washington. For decades, Washington's fancy restaurants were French. http://www.angelfire.com/art2/delacroix_berthier/meet_de_la_croix.%20part%203.htm. Visit Montserrat: 2022 Travel Guide for Montserrat, Valencian Community 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, In the early days, all gentlemen had to wear a coat and necktie. I bartended, waitered and managed the place from 1975-1980. There were also the more restrained, upscale clubs like Pisces Club, Charlies Georgetown and F. Scotts for the preppies who had aged out of their old college favorites. By 1982, preppy partying in our nations capital was reaching a fever pitch, with limousines crawling down M Street and bars packed eight-deep as people queued up for drinks. Garretts: GM spent many hours at this bar in his early 20s. . He taught at Duke Ellington also. "My dog's better'n that," replied Costner. It was buy 2 cocktails and the 3rd was free (so we just had to) and we would order onion rings,salads,burgers,and mainly light meals,then catch a cab for nights out dancing at The Pier 9. We always sat in the front room and played Barry White,(and Pier songs,) on the jukebox which was located up front at the north window. Since then the location has been a sandwich shop but currently remains for rent. But to the chronic dismay of some Georgetown residents, the streets and a circuit of popular nightclubs are a commercial everyman's land. 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. Not exclusively gay but ahead of its time? The gay on was the hole in the wall on 17th street. 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. Theres still Tombs (the other inspiration and filming location of St. Elmos Fire) and Chadwicks under a new name is still basically Chadwicks. Currently the AMC Theatre, the Bayou was the go-to music scene from 1953 to 1998. By 1980, WaPo was offering a laundry list of the clientele to expect there: Mt. Nathans, Tombs. I do remember when Blimpies Subs opened just south of Mr Henrys, maybe a couple doors down or next door- It was perfect food for late nights,after the clubs. Revisiting the 1980s Heyday of Georgetown's Fabled Preppy Bars This is news to me. In its script, St. Elmos is described as a P.J. In 2014, The Third Edition became El Centro, an upscale Mexican restaurant. One amorous pair -- a man and woman -- eating dinner and oblivious to their surroundings, was asked, "Did you know this is considered a gay bar?". Hotel ILUNION Aqua 4. Channeling the immense popularity of Chidi, a so-called circuit of preppy bars soon dotted the neighborhood, giving the pastel-clad a place to party virtually every single night of the week. The people that come here are from good families, explained one Chidi-goer at the time, differentiating them from the non-preppy riff-raff. I went to all of those a lot when I was at GW from 98-02. By the 21st century, Georgetown bar culture was dying as students began going out in the Adams Morgan neighborhood instead. Enjoy the seasonal outdoor pool and visit the 3 bars/lounges and poolside bar for drinks. We're happy. It was the Duke Zeibert's of Dance, the Sans Souci of Sweat. At Annie Oakley's Wild West Bar, Virginians like Susie Plundeke, 19, arrive every weekend ("if we can find a car") to drink beer, play pool, meet people and talk, despite the pulsating sound system. Death Of a Disco - The Washington Post Sign up now for more from the Beltway. 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. A good percentage of the people you see here never even went to prep school.. These kids are very well-behaved," Spaulding said. From May 1- May 3, a series of large scale demonstrations were held in DC protesting the war. 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. 17 Photographs from Kentucky in the 1960s - OnlyInYourState Outside Winston's rock 'n' roll cave, jean-clad youths wait impatiently to show identification to bouncer Wally Costner, whose 21 years of living are distributed through a 6-foot-5, 240-pound frame. 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. Montserrat, Valencian Community Hotels from $54 - Travelocity More than 100 businesses in the area serve liquor. "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. georgetown bars 1970s Although many Georgetown merchants say this is the worst summer for business they have seen in years, one bartender in a popular nightclub said it can gross $10,000 on a Saturday night. Roberta Flack performed more at Mr. Henrys on Capitol Hill than in Georgetown. Is everyone forgetting the Library? Fourteen years in the making, "The Bayou" is a 90-minute documentary about the legendary Georgetown nightclub, which closed in 1998. Elmos Fire Now it is an upscale Mexican restaurant called El Centro. I think the gay steakhouse was called Paramount? 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. Hes not sure why. 12. All rights reserved. He then grabbed a nearby bar stool, flipped it over, and pounded the defenseless steaks vigorously with the flat seat top.. The clothing store Wet Seal opened here sometime around 2003. Looks like Old Glory is the last one standing. Georgetown Billiards: GM loved this place. 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. This establishment was a left over remanent of the 1970s disco scene. 3135 K Street, Georgetown, Washington DC. Wasnt there a regular Britches a little further up Wisconsin, like around where Polo is now? Required fields are marked *. homestead high school staff. 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. If I could turn back time! Crazy expensive and hard to get into, it set the standard for special-occasion dining in the era when butter and . The loss of a significant number of Georgetown's bars and late-night options has run contrary to the neighborhood's population growth. There was also the gay-friendly Georgetown Grill (I may have the name wrong; it was long ago, in the 70s). By 1967 Flack had gained a healthy local following, and was singing five nights a week at a nightclub on K Street in Washington. Georgetown is a multicultural and international hub now which I think is a positive thing., How Suburban Chicago Became the Unlikeliest Clubbing Scene of the 1980s, The Discreet Charm of the Old-School Preppy Bar, Bonfires, Ballrooms and Boris Johnson: Photos From the Last Days of the Old, Decadent Oxford. Not So Long Ago: Wisconsin and M St. - The Georgetown Metropolitan Gunchers, Olde Mac;s, Winstons, Paul Mall, Apple Pie, Chadwicks, Third Edition, Guards. THE BEST Georgetown Bars & Clubs (with Photos) - Tripadvisor It was a safe spot to meet. For more discriminating tastes, there are establishments like the Pisces Club, F. Scott's, the Georgetown Club, Charlie's Georgetown, Chinoiserie and Blues Alley, which are protected from the masses by understated facades and locations off the well-trodden Wisconsin-and-M pathway. But it was Clydes that the Official Preppy Handbook would list as their definitive prep bar for the DC area. Flickr/Hunter Desportes 2) In the early 1970s, the country embroiled in the Vietnam War. He got a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service at Georgetown and a law degree from Catholic University. Georgetown Grill | The Georgetown Grill, from 1948 to 1977 - Facebook She noted that by now the 100-plus bars in the neighborhood were starting to rankle the older, upper-crust residents with to their boisterous partying. Somehow we had to remake things so that those who wished could engage in political activity. "The Bayou was a mid-Atlantic icon," said Dave Lilling . And awesome. Todays mixological artisans work like alchemists, decanting potions and grinding tree bark. 1. According to Salon, the American diplomat now sported short trousers, a large tattoo and spoke Arabic he was anything but a preppy. By 1980, WaPo was offering a laundry list of the clientele to expect there: Mt. . It's what they call a "listening room," with little signs on the tables firmly requesting that customers not chitchat during performances. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. Reportedly decked in khakis and polished penny loafers, blond hair and blue eyes, he was a Georgetown junior at the time. Best jazz clubs in DC. It would become gridlocked with cars as far as the eye can see, according to the New York Times, each and every Saturday night. Bars & Clubs. At first she considered the suggestion an insult, but over time she began making appearances at local clubs, both as a pop singer and as a piano accompanist for others. This article was featured in the InsideHook DC newsletter. But those are off the main drags. And nobody mentions Mr. Smiths on M Street in the 60s-70s. 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. "We're probably the preppiest people in there and we really bum people out," he said, leaning against the wall outside Winston's and looking oh-so-preppy in his pink-and-green plaid bow tie and pink sweater. Washingtons weird territorial placement in the American firmament also played a key role in the bar scene that emerged. card. But I'm not interested in going to discos and taking drugs. Brad, you might be right, but what I read is that Flack started at the Georgetown Mr. Henrys and then the club owner, Henry Yaffe, recognized her talent and then built a room for her at his Capitol Hill location. So if finals haveyou feeling down, take a walk with 4E down memory lane and peer into the past with our Georgetown Bars Now and Then. All Rights Reserved. Georgetown Most things at The Tombs aren't older than a college senior today. . I once met John Waters and Divine there. Donal Leace, who sadly passed away yesterday in Texas from COVID19, use to play Sunday afternoon shows at Mr. Henrys on Wisconsin. He moved up to waiter, then to bartender. She noted that by now the 100-plus bars in the neighborhood were starting to rankle the older, upper-crust residents with to their boisterous partying. For one night only, resurrecting a Georgetown nightclub called And remember when there was Boogeys or Boogies, where now we have the Apple Store? Night falls on Georgetown like a sable cape, lights begin to flicker and suddenly people are everywhere. Channeling the immense popularity of Chidi, a so-called circuit of preppy bars soon dotted the neighborhood, giving the pastel-clad a place to party virtually every single night of the week. The 1980s were the prime years for Georgetown basketball. A 'hip' bar scene in Towson during the 1970s - Baltimore Sun Open in Google Maps. Winstons, Pall Mall, Pierce Street Annex, Numbers, The Bayou, Bojangles, Windsor McKays, Abbey Road and Pattons, Pingback: ANC Signals End to Moratorium But Delays Decision | The Georgetown Metropolitan, Pingback: The Georgetown Metropolitan Forgets its Birthday Again | The Georgetown Metropolitan.