The Setting: Two guys out on a Saturday night in Atlanta trying to find a bar/lounge.
The Situation: Roundup Russy and I go to a bar/lounge that caters to African Americans. There isn’t any parking available on the street, so we have to pay a suspicious looking man to park in the small poorly lit parking lot across the street. We get to the door of the establishment and there is a large security guard doing pat downs, checking ID’s and enforcing the dress code. Just past him a young lady sits at a desk collecting the cover charge.
We finally get in. There are about 50 people inside sitting or standing in small groups. We make our way over to the bar. I don’t know what I want so I check out the selection. The selection is sad…. I’ve seen people with a wider selection in their college dorm room. I see a bottle of Captain Morgan so I order a dark rum and coke. But… before I could stop her, the bartender pulls out a plastic bottle of something real cheap, free pores a little in a glass full of ice and tops it off with Coca-Cola.
Soon after we arrived, we leave. While walking to the car, we decide that it’s too early to call it a night but neither of us wants to pay another cover charge. After much deliberation, we decide to go to a bar that is close to my house which happens to cater to Caucasians.
We pull up and there is amble free parking on a well lit street with lines to ensure the maximum amount of people can park on this street safely. We walk into a corridor and are first met my the roar of the crowd and then a short thin man asks us for our ID’s checks the date and says, “have a good time.” The crowd is mostly White 20 somethings with a little bit of everyone else mixed it. The women have on outfits similar to the women at the bar we just left but the men had on entirely different attire. About 50% of the guys had on T-shirts, shorts, and thonged flip flops. The bartenders were doing tricks behind the bar, throwing martini shakers in the air, and dancing to the music. The liquor selection ranged from one side of the bar to the other on 6 or 7 shelves. Needless to say… there were no plastic bottles.
Even though the music selection and the style of dancing wasn’t our “preference.” It seems that one group was having much more fun than the other.
The Questions: Why is there a dress code in most Black clubs? Would we have more fun if we were more comfortable? I know the #1 answer is to keep the thugs out but we all know that any thug can and will go to D&K and get some slacks and a button-down.
Why the lackluster service and selection? In a city full of options why wouldn’t you make it seem like your bar is the cream of the crop?
Why are we so anti-social? Who goes to a social place to only speak to a small group of friends? You could’ve/should’ve stayed home for that.
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on Aug 10th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
I can’t speak in relation to the “single” aspect, but I do go out with friends from time-to-time…and I’ll answer the questions in order:
- As you said, there’s the thought that the so the so-called “thugs” won’t want to go there (yeh, that’s what stopping them…)
- Yes. I always have way more fun when I’m mentally in a “chill” mode; clothes help a lot with that.
- Because people go back and don’t use their voice to force better service. Sidebar: I hate paying for poor service.
- Most people don’t know how to run a proper bar/lounge…and that is why you often hear of them being under new owner/management or changing their name.
- Because a lot of females are worried about other females looking them up band down while a lot of “thugs” are too busy making eye contact (also known as mean-mugging)…
Add all of this to the frisking walking in the joint and the $12 drinks and then you realize why I rarely go to so-called “black” clubs. It’s so much extra make you forget while you’re going out. To have fun.
on Aug 13th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
That entire scene kinda turned me off from clubs and lounges: all the hoop-la you’ve gotta go through to get in, and you often end up not even having a good time. The liquor’s cheap, like you said, plastic cups, but the aura of the clientele reeks of pretension.
It’s a strange juxtaposition, so I go out like that in spurts, I couldn’t do it every weekend. It’s a problem when you know what your issues of the night will probably be before you even get to the spot.
But I LIKE to party with my folk, and something has to change in the way that we go out. I figure with everyone paying a cover, a bar can afford things like glasses. But it’s not my industry, so I can’t give specific suggestions.
As far as the dress code, you know there are a LOT of people out here that like to be perceived as being something or someone they’re not. Every club owner is into that celebrity/ grown and sexy 24/7… They hope to attract a certain crowd. A lot “our spots” aren’t like that at first but after a month and word gets out about this “chill spot”, here come the throngs of people wanting to be included, bringing drama and bullshit with them. Ruining the whole vibe i.e. Peters St.