Save the Palms!

[billhoward]

During my time, The Palms was a shithole with stale beer.  While I don't like the look of C-Town right now, I won't miss the Palms.

You say tomahto, we stay tradition. The longer you've been out of school, the more you hang on to what memories remain in professors still teaching, bars still in business. Gnomon Copy continues as a viable business going back to the 1970s? 1960s? but it's not as warm and fuzzy as, uh, The Palms.

What's money grubbing about maximizing the return on your real estate investment? I know you can get a lower tax rate in some states by declaring farmland forever agricultural. Maybe in Ithaca, Berkeley or Cambridge you could get an abatement for a rundown bar if you agreed not to turn it into doorman-staffed apartments or Forever 21.

[CAS]

In the late '70's, the Palms was a rare place in Collegetown which attracted both students and some townies.  Had quite a streak going there in my senior year.  Looks pretty much the same today as it did over 30 years ago.  It needs to be saved.  Maybe Elynah can start a fundraising campaign...

[KeithK]

In the late '70's, the Palms was a rare place in Collegetown which attracted both students and some townies.  Had quite a streak going there in my senior year.  Looks pretty much the same today as it did over 30 years ago.  It needs to be saved.  Maybe Elynah can start a fundraising campaign...

I have no doubt that this little online community could raise a few bucks for a good cause.  But enough to match what a developer is going to pay for prime real estate in Collegetown? I think you've had a few too many Schaefers...

[ftyuv]

In the late '70's, the Palms was a rare place in Collegetown which attracted both students and some townies.  Had quite a streak going there in my senior year.  Looks pretty much the same today as it did over 30 years ago.  It needs to be saved.  Maybe Elynah can start a fundraising campaign...

I have no doubt that this little online community could raise a few bucks for a good cause.  But enough to match what a developer is going to pay for prime real estate in Collegetown? I think you've had a few too many Schaefers...

Ithaca Bucks are the
one Bucks to have when you're
saving Royal Palms.

[Lauren '06]

In the late '70's, the Palms was a rare place in Collegetown which attracted both students and some townies.  Had quite a streak going there in my senior year.  Looks pretty much the same today as it did over 30 years ago.  It needs to be saved.  Maybe Elynah can start a fundraising campaign...

I have no doubt that this little online community could raise a few bucks for a good cause.  But enough to match what a developer is going to pay for prime real estate in Collegetown? I think you've had a few too many Schaefers...

Ithaca Hours are the
one Bucks to have when you're
saving Royal Palms.

Fixed.

[Rosey]

In the late '70's, the Palms was a rare place in Collegetown which attracted both students and some townies.  Had quite a streak going there in my senior year.  Looks pretty much the same today as it did over 30 years ago.  It needs to be saved.  Maybe Elynah can start a fundraising campaign...

I have no doubt that this little online community could raise a few bucks for a good cause.  But enough to match what a developer is going to pay for prime real estate in Collegetown? I think you've had a few too many Schaefers...

Change isn't necessarily bad. For every Olin Library and Milstein Cave, there's a "new" CTB, or Ale House, or new west dorms replacing the U-Halls, or "new" Wegman's, etc. The key is to always replace something with a strict upgrade, so things don't get worse over time.

In general, I'm amused when people romanticize their own experiences, as if most of the people lauding the Palms now would even be caught dead going to such a dump for the first time now that they are no longer poor college students. I don't think we need to worry overly much about students lacking sufficient opportunities to drink themselves silly: without Dino's, Johnny O's, and the Palms, more people will just crowd into Chapterhouse, Pixel, Ruloff's, the Nines, and Dunbar's, and you can't count out the notion that some spiffy joint will open in a new ground-level storefront. No, it won't be the Palms; but it will serve the same purpose for today's students as the Palms did for you all.

Sacrificing all potential for change on the altar of tradition or history without regard to the merits of the change is dumb. I personally would be fine with something replacing Lynah as long as it was just as raucous. Maybe that's impossible in a new facility, which would be a good reason to keep it around; but I am failing to see the irreplaceable uniqueness of the Palms that justifies any futile effort to save it.

[jtwcornell91]

without Dino's, Johnny O's, and the Palms, more people will just crowd into Chapterhouse, Pixel, Ruloff's, the Nines, and Dunbar's,

I have to say, that's my biggest worry, that the Palms' clientele will move to the Chapter House and mess it up. :-}

(Actually, I have occasionally noticed that happening already...)

[Rosey]

without Dino's, Johnny O's, and the Palms, more people will just crowd into Chapterhouse, Pixel, Ruloff's, the Nines, and Dunbar's,

I have to say, that's my biggest worry, that the Palms' clientele will move to the Chapter House and mess it up. :-}

(Actually, I have occasionally noticed that happening already...)

It's hard enough to get a seat there past 10pm as it is. But if things get too busy, I suspect another bar will just open up. There's too much money to be made making students stand next to a velvet rope in the freezing cold.

[ugarte]

In general, I'm amused when people romanticize their own experiences, as if most of the people lauding the Palms now would even be caught dead going to such a dump for the first time now that they are no longer poor college students.

(1) You need a little more nostalgia in your life. If you don't romanticize where you used to get stupid, why bother being young at all?
(2) The only reason I wouldn't drink at the Palms now is because everyone else would be 21 and I'd accurately look like a sad old man. That the place is a dump would have nothing to do with it. Dumps are where the best drinking takes place. Even back in the 90's, when I was in grad school I liked going to the Royal Palm and drinking with the regulars in the early evenings before the students came in and the regulars left.

[Rosey]

(1) You need a little more nostalgia in your life. If you don't romanticize where you used to get stupid, why bother being young at all?

I certainly didn't get out enough in college. But seriously, it's when romanticization turns into action to preserve the physical manifestation of the memory that people have gone over the line into missing the point. IMO. YMMV.

(2) The only reason I wouldn't drink at the Palms now is because everyone else would be 21 and I'd accurately look like a sad old man. That the place is a dump would have nothing to do with it. Dumps are where the best drinking takes place. Even back in the 90's, when I was in grad school I liked going to the Royal Palm and drinking with the regulars in the early evenings before the students came in and the regulars left.

I like drinking at places that have good beer. Usually, these places aren't dumps. But I guess I'm just a snob at heart: I certainly spent my share of time in Dino's when I was a senior, but we insisted on getting the best beer on the menu, $6 pitchers of Saranac Black Forest.

Those were the days. But I didn't shed one bloody tear when I heard it had closed. There are new experiences, new bars, new levels of dank, all conspiring to break people out of their comfort zones. Every man dies, but not every man truly lives, etc., etc. :-)

[CAS]

Good beer can be had at many places.  Magic at only a chosen few.  Save the Palms...

[Beeeej]

Good beer can be had at many places.  Magic at only a chosen few.  Save the Palms...

You first.

[ajh258]

without Dino's, Johnny O's, and the Palms, more people will just crowd into Chapterhouse, Pixel, Ruloff's, the Nines, and Dunbar's,

I have to say, that's my biggest worry, that the Palms' clientele will move to the Chapter House and mess it up. :-}

(Actually, I have occasionally noticed that happening already...)

Level B is where those people will end up. For some reason, Chapter House is still too much of a walk for some of my friends.

[Jim Hyla]

Well, I have to say, if this is the reason it's closing,

"Less than 10 years ago, kids would come out and start drinking after class ... and we'd be busy all afternoon," he said. "But drinking habits have changed.",

then it's a good thing.

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

In general, I'm amused when people romanticize their own experiences, as if most of the people lauding the Palms now would even be caught dead going to such a dump for the first time now that they are no longer poor college students.

(1) You need a little more nostalgia in your life. If you don't romanticize where you used to get stupid, why bother being young at all?

For me that would be Dunbar's.  I lived right around the corner from it on Dryden Rd. and was there several nights a week.  The owners knew me and even cashed personal checks for me (in the days before ATMs).  The bartenders all knew me and my friends, too, and knew what I wanted to drink on a given night.

Ahhh, memories ::drunk::