Yet another collegetown bar bites the dust

[David Harding]

Sophisticated in Collegetown?  Another new try.    https://ithacavoice.org/2024/01/the-embassy-opening-this-weekend-in-longtime-aladdins-location-in-collegetown/

[Trotsky]

That has to be a brothel.

[pfibiger]

Kilpatrick's Pub downtown is closing, to be replaced by another (unnamed) "pub-style establishment" in a few months.  https://www.14850.com/121934712-kilpatricks-closing-ithaca/ https://ithacavoice.org/2023/12/kilpatricks-finger-lakes-beverage-center-redemption-center-closing-doors/

Not the Finger lakes Beverage Center too!!  That's a loss I'll feel. That was a great shop.

Ugh. I stopped in there every summer. The selection was so much better than wegmans or p&c. That sucks.

[Weder]

Kilpatrick's Pub downtown is closing, to be replaced by another (unnamed) "pub-style establishment" in a few months.  https://www.14850.com/121934712-kilpatricks-closing-ithaca/ https://ithacavoice.org/2023/12/kilpatricks-finger-lakes-beverage-center-redemption-center-closing-doors/

Not the Finger lakes Beverage Center too!!  That's a loss I'll feel. That was a great shop.

Ugh. I stopped in there every summer. The selection was so much better than wegmans or p&c. That sucks.

Ithaca Coffee Company in Triphammer Mall has a pretty strong beer selection, though obviously a much smaller space than Finger Lakes.

[upprdeck]

Sophisticated in Collegetown?  Another new try.    https://ithacavoice.org/2024/01/the-embassy-opening-this-weekend-in-longtime-aladdins-location-in-collegetown/

Looking at the Menu I dont see myself having a reason to every go there.

[David Harding]

Not Collegetown and just for sale, but one could be concerned about the fate of Chanticleer.    https://www.14850.com/012535219-chanticleer-sale-2401/

[Scersk '97]

Not Collegetown and just for sale, but one could be concerned about the fate of Chanticleer.    https://www.14850.com/012535219-chanticleer-sale-2401/

They say that there are no plans to close the bar, and I'm happy to hear it, because losing the Chanticleer would be a stake in my heart. It's one of the last remnants of "old Ithaca" revelry.

With Johnny's, the Palms, the one I can't even mention without getting very, very sad, and others gone, there's so little left. It's like the Chanticleer and the Creeker and that's it.

[billhoward]

With Johnny's, the Palms, the one I can't even mention without getting very, very sad, and others gone, there's so little left. It's like the Chanticleer and the Creeker and that's it.

Where is historic preservation when you need it?

I'd rather the Palms still be around than, say, the snail darter. Which actually is still around although a Tennessee dam that threatened them was built.

[Trotsky]

Let's posit that dive bars were authentic in the 40s-60s and nostalgic in the 70s-90s, with dive bars themselves being a bar food echo of road houses (00s-20s / 30s-50s).

If that's true, that seems like a natural lifespan, and from the 00s on it dies off to be replaced by something else.

Oswald Spengler should have written more about bars.

Something else replaced these, as culture never sleeps.  I don't know if that's the club scene (evolved from discos) or what -- I have the Critical Old.

[Cop at Lynah]

The Collegetown bar scene came under siege of the ABC board in the late 90's and continued through the early 2000's At that time Avarmis owned the most frequented bars in college town and his establishments were targeted for enforcement on many occasions by the ABC Board. I was part of those enforcement activities and the fines that the ABC Board doled out made it almost impossible for Avarmis to keep the bars open.  The older established operations such as Jhonney O's, Dunbars, Psalms and Chapter House were less targeted because (in my mind) their owners actually cared about the laws and were deterred by the possibility of sanctions if caught serving under age patrons.  After several years it appeared the business model for Collegetown establishments weren't worth the liability and financial risk

[ugarte]

The Collegetown bar scene came under siege of the ABC board in the late 90's and continued through the early 2000's At that time Avarmis owned the most frequented bars in college town and his establishments were targeted for enforcement on many occasions by the ABC Board. I was part of those enforcement activities and the fines that the ABC Board doled out made it almost impossible for Avarmis to keep the bars open.  The older established operations such as Jhonney O's, Dunbars, Psalms and Chapter House were less targeted because (in my mind) their owners actually cared about the laws and were deterred by the possibility of sanctions if caught serving under age patrons.  After several years it appeared the business model for Collegetown establishments weren't worth the liability and financial risk

That ain't the Dunbars I remember but my housemates took me to the Palms the night I was going to turn 21 and the bouncers made me wait until after midnight.

[billhoward]

Let's posit that dive bars were authentic in the 40s-60s and nostalgic in the 70s-90s, with dive bars themselves being a bar food echo of road houses (00s-20s / 30s-50s). ...

Dive bar" may take on a different name so students / young adults / slackers have something their own. Still: There has to be a bar type for people down on their money and bar owners cutting corners on upkeep, bathroom cleaning, lighting, and the food. (Pickled eggs are a food.) Add a couple shady characters and you have the dive bar again. Even debutantes will stop in a couple times to see how the others live and maybe they spy a hunk who appears to have showered.

[Trotsky]

There has to be a bar type for people down on their money and bar owners cutting corners on upkeep, bathroom cleaning, lighting, and the food. (Pickled eggs are a food.) Add a couple shady characters and you have the dive bar again. Even debutantes will stop in a couple times to see how the others live and maybe they spy a hunk who appears to have showered.

Oh, definitely.  But those places are in poor neighborhoods, not well-scrubbed collegetowns.  And they're real, they're not Slumming Adventureland.  So they aren't dive bars, they're real bars with real people. Albany has a dozen of them, and no college student -- possibly no college graduate -- has ever been in one.  The people there are not there because Let's Go To A Dive Bar (giggle).  They're there because late stage capitalism is soul destroying and getting drunk is cheaper than a streaming service.

[Jeff Hopkins '82]

The Collegetown bar scene came under siege of the ABC board in the late 90's and continued through the early 2000's At that time Avarmis owned the most frequented bars in college town and his establishments were targeted for enforcement on many occasions by the ABC Board. I was part of those enforcement activities and the fines that the ABC Board doled out made it almost impossible for Avarmis to keep the bars open.  The older established operations such as Jhonney O's, Dunbars, Psalms and Chapter House were less targeted because (in my mind) their owners actually cared about the laws and were deterred by the possibility of sanctions if caught serving under age patrons.  After several years it appeared the business model for Collegetown establishments weren't worth the liability and financial risk

That ain't the Dunbars I remember but my housemates took me to the Palms the night I was going to turn 21 and the bouncers made me wait until after midnight.

Ruloff's refused to serve me twoi days before my 18th birthday.  I went back two days later, had a beer and never went back again.

FWIW, Dunbar's was very thorough about checking IDs when I was a student.

[Scersk '97]

FWIW, Dunbar's was very thorough about checking IDs when I was a student.

Back when we had a more rational drinking age, I suspect a great many bars were much more thorough in checking IDs. Separating the high-school crowd from the college crowd makes sense; separating the college crowd from itself never really has.