Cool bars in Norman through the years

[snp]

What were the cool bars in Norman during your guy's stay here? Being a 02-07 OU college kid, it seems that all the new bars are the best places. 747, Malone's, Al's, and soon to be the hyped up Logan's. Although, there are a few of the older bars that are still rocking - Brother's, The Mont, and Occonels.

And how could I leave Sugar's off the list.

Give me some history about the older days of drinking for you guys.

[King Crimson]

the Library and Othello's i liked quite a bit. Joe's Taverna was kind of cool when it first opened but then got a little too fratted out for my tastes. Liberty D's. Brother's was good in the summers....2 for 1 Bass mugs in the afternoons and free taco bar. i've had some good times at the Deli.

as a wee pup i really dug the Service Station's Ortega burger.

[85Sooner]

The Jock Strap

[fadada1]

Bill's in the little shopping center by adams tower (where the pinoccio's used to be). good times. cheap beer. loose women (that i never touched).

pinks used to have a great beer selection - think it turned into the library.

was more of an o'connells type - the old standby. like a comfortable shoe. sometimes smelled like an old shoe.

[fadada1]

Jacques Trapp
i remember that guy. had GOVT 1113 with him. cool guy.

[Howzit]

Grey Fox
South 40 before the expansion
Blue Onion
Winchesters

[King Crimson]

i remember the Blue Onion, at least where it was when i was growing up. the High Horse Tavern on Lindsey seemed like pretty "swinging" place to a youngster. a lot of harleys and trucks and such out front all the time.

when my pops was in law school he and his buddies used to go to the Wishbone on Porter (i think)--they had a foosball table, he says.

[PrideTrombone]

99-04 in Norman. Your new trendy bars do not impress me.

1. The Library - Best beer selection this side of TapWorks, not a gay bar anymore. Very good mixed drinks. Nice patio area.
2. The Vista - Shiner special = nummy. All but the simplest mixed drinks can vary in quality. Extensive menu, good location.
3. Brothers
4. O'Connell's - Addition of plasma screens has helped a lot... good beer specials, and gotta love the shuffleboard.
5. The Mont - Great scenery, good drinks, bad prices.
5. Louie's - Better now that they've improved the menu. The Campus Corner location gets a bit trendy at times.
6. Al's - Keystone Light on tap? Buh.

8000. Mr. Bill's

Haven't been to Seven47 or Malone's.

[BoogercountySooner]

Beaver Palace

Walter Mitty's

:D :D

[BoogercountySooner]

Grey Fox
South 40 before the expansion
Blue Onion
Winchesters


I remember all those places, Fran was a Barmaid at Winchesters I sure did like her and all her free Beer!:D

Wednesday Night Drown Night at the South 40 Woohoo! Bout got whooped by a big ole biker one Wednesday night. I sure did like his girlfriend!:D

[King Crimson]

there was a place on Campus Corner with an Italian sounding name that started with B (?).....where my uncle saw John Lee Hooker and some other blues luminaries like Clarence Gatemouth Brown etc.

[fadada1]

8000. Mr. Bill's

that's because of the years you were at OU. 99-04???? come on!!!!! we're talking back in "the day".;)

[Boarder]

Kelly's on Main. It was where Bison Witches is now and the room to the west of it.

Nice musical entertainment.

[BoogercountySooner]

The Interurban was a popular hangout for Normanites 20 years ago!

[King Crimson]

Kelly's on Main. It was where Bison Witches is now and the room to the west of it.

Nice musical entertainment.

I remember Kelly's being on the south side of Main St.

[trwxxa]

i remember the Blue Onion, at least where it was when i was growing up. the High Horse Tavern on Lindsey seemed like pretty "swinging" place to a youngster. a lot of harleys and trucks and such out front all the time.



Friday night "choir practice". Good Times.

[JohnnyMack]

Best place to just get away, watch sports, drink beer and beat some a*s in NTN has to be The Vista. No pretense, no pretty frat boys, no obnoxious frat girls.

[Howzit]

the High Horse Tavern on Lindsey seemed like pretty "swinging" place to a youngster. a lot of harleys and trucks and such out front all the time.


If by "pretty swinging place" you mean "nastiest strippers in the history of stripperdom" you would be correct. Seems like I remember them having a light they would flip on the po-leese entered so the dancers would know to knock off the really nasty stuff.



I remember all those places, Fran was a Barmaid at Winchesters I sure did like her and all her free Beer!:D

Wednesday Night Drown Night at the South 40 Woohoo! Bout got whooped by a big ole biker one Wednesday night. I sure did like his girlfriend!:D
$1 pitchers rawked.

[Soonrboy]

Kelly's was on the Southside of Main. Didn't they try to do comedy night a couple of times?

Anyone remember Denco's? That was a cool place, right down the street was a dance club that had a thousand names.

[soonercody]

Circa '93 to '98:

1) Anyplace with a patio
2) Depended on the night/drink special, band, etc
3) I was a lush so the bartender that made the stongest drink was important
4) The town was different in the summer, in many ways better because there was less traffic and smaller crowds. Oh, and patios!

The Mont
VISTA
Pinks/The Library
Liberty D's
The Deli
Joe's Taverna
Othello's
Opie's (many a good time at Opie's)
Service Station
InterUrban
Brother's
O'Connell's
I also liked to go to the Quarter House for a DOCB at about 2:30 AM
I forget some names of some other places, but one up in OKC we called "The Regal Beagle" because it was in an apartment complex and played retro disco when that was sorta cool. There used to be a cool little backwoods place in Pink, OK that was fun too.

[King Crimson]

there was also a fairly decent BBQ joint in Pink called Beasley's.

i posted this recently in another thread but U2 played Kelly's in the early 80's on either the Boy or October tour. i used to work with a couple people who went.

[Harry Beanbag]

that's because of the years you were at OU. 99-04???? come on!!!!! we're talking back in "the day".;)


Yep. There was nothing cooler than me and 3 fellow 18 year old guys from my floor on Walker Tower walking in to Mr. Bill's and drinking beer, no questions asked. That's about all the ambiance we cared about back then, '90-'91.

[afs]

97-02

The Library
O'Connells
The Vista
Bison Witches
The Mont
Brother's
Red Dirt
Mr Bills

[SoonerInKCMO]

Organ.

Grinder.

[KaiserSooner]

98-03

I like any place with a patio, too, so The Library and The Mont were pretty good for that.

Now that I'm in grad school and am back in Norman more, I've had more of a chance to try some of the new places. I've been to Seven47 several times, though it isn't really my kind of place....too stuffy and pretentious.

[KaiserSooner]

BTW, this reminds me. Has anyone tried Cafe do Brasil since it relocated to 11th and Walker in OKC?

The drinks there kick ***. They serve a drink called Caipirinha, which is made with cachaca....I could drink those things 24/7.

[snp]

And for the record, the coolest 2 bars in Norman are The Mont and The Library. Although 747 does have a sweet patio and that's where most people go these days.

I had no idea there was this much bar turnover in Norman.

Champions is pretty sweet as well. You can ride your bicylce up to it, and walk inside and get a drink. Great place for the under-21 kids.

[OUBabe]

King Crimson....were you referring to the Boardwalk (Brother's now).

The Library used to be the Brown Owl.

I liked Bogart's and Greater Oklahoma Territory

I had breakfast today with K Denton who owned the Blue Onion....got in there the first time when I was 16

[King Crimson]

King Crimson....were you referring to the Boardwalk (Brother's now).


if you mean the John Lee Hooker place, then no. it's an Italian name....i'll think of it here in the next day or too.

Fontentelli's i think, maybe was the name!

way on back when i was young Brother's or a place around Brother's was a pool hall called the Golden Cue....with the big tables where you rented the billiard balls for an hour at a time.

[apusooner]

1. Sugars
2. Deli
3. Library
4. Firehouse (oil wrestling nights)
5. Joe's

[snp]

By the way, give a time period for your posts. I need to put it in perspective. Like, how on earth was the Firehouse ever cool.

The last time I was there, it was all you can drink beer for 5$. They ran outta beer around 8, and it was all warm anyways.

[Rhino]

99-01
THE DELI
Joe's Taverna
The Vista (only acceptable on Bingo nights)
The Library
Red Dirt
Bill & Dee's
O'Connell's
Champion's

Crap:
Brothers
The Mont
Othello's
Opie's
The Firehouse
Anything that was next to Arby's on west Lindsey

[Harry Beanbag]

Like, how on earth was the Firehouse ever cool.



4. Firehouse (oil wrestling nights)


:)

[Partial Qualifier]

86-90ish:

Grey Fox
Red Fox
SRO (Standing Room Only)
The Edge

[fadada1]

Yep. There was nothing cooler than me and 3 fellow 18 year old guys from my floor on Walker Tower walking in to Mr. Bill's and drinking beer, no questions asked. That's about all the ambiance we cared about back then, '90-'91.
heh. i was the same 18/19 year old at the same time.

cheers to the underage drinkers!!!!

[Hamhock]

Bill's in the little shopping center by adams tower (where the pinoccio's used to be). good times. cheap beer. loose women (that i never touched).



93-97

those were the days. they had happy hour for either 1 or 2 for $1. It started before lunch.

is Bill's gone?

[1stTimeCaller]

Rhino just made the same list that I would have made. I was there from 97-03.

The Mont always tried to charge me for drinks I never ordered.

Best shuffleboard table in Norman is at Bill & Dees.

tuesday night bingo at the Vista rawked.

Brother's was fun my freshman year but at 18-19 I didn't know any better.

[Partial Qualifier]

You guys talking about "Back in the day" and "Those were the good old days" whilst referring to the mid-nineties & the 2000's are making me feel old ;)

[Sooner Born Sooner Bred]

In 93ish I drank my first Zima at The Mont. That was also the year I went to ToTo's but it was dead so my date and I saw Ancient Chinese Pen*s at Rome instead.

[frankensooner]

I was one of those handsome bus boys/bar backs at the Mont back in 87-88. We actually won an award in the Gazette or someplace for having the best looking bus boys. ;) As a college student, there was no better feeling than going home at 3 in the morning with fifty bucks in ones in your pocket. ;)

[the_ouskull]

Kelly's on Main. It was where Bison Witches is now and the room to the west of it.

Nice musical entertainment.

Kelly's was flippin' awesome. My cousin worked there in the late 80's. It was still around (but barely) when I got to OU in 1992.

As for other places... my opinions:

-- O'Connell's: The top of my list. This is where I spend 90% of my "goin'-out" money. GREAT Happy Hour, really good food, and mostly friendly staff. Those who aren't get dealt with pretty quick.
-- Bill's: The bottom of my list. Going to Bill's is like watching Springer. You don't really enjoy it. You do it to feel better about yourself. Worst bathrooms I've ever seen in my life. LOTS of "townies."
-- The Library: Great Happy Hour, if you like handcrafted beers. Otherwise, they think a little too highly of their beers for the average college student, and pretty much everybody that's drinking there is a lil' pretentious for my tastes. Good "bar food" though, especially the pizzas. Great beer selection.
-- Brothers: I'm not a fan. It's a sh*thole, and nobody there ever seems to care that you're there.
-- Joe's: Used to be a great place. When it went downhill, it did so VERY quickly. I think that it went downhill when it stopped hiring actual lesbians and just started hiriing girls that were as approachable as lesbians. Joe's still a great cat though...
-- Othello's: More of a restaurant, in my opinion, but a cool place. It's different, which, in my opinion, always matters. No beer specials unless you work there though... :D
-- Malones: Unless it's Happy Hour, their prices are some of the worst in town. Also, if you go on a busy shift, you need a letter from your mom, God, and your doctor to get a drink. WAY too "frattastic" for my blood... and even worse than that is it seems to have a high "wannabe" population. (Serving and drinking...)
-- Sugers: I haven't been in years, I'm proud to say, but let me guess. WAY below-average girls, sh*tty beer, good music. Am I right? Am I right? Most all of the female customers are way hotter than the dancers at any given forever.
-- Red Dirt: Wishes it was Liberty D's. See also, Malones, only it's cheaper.
-- Seven47: I originally left it off on purpose. Then realized I'd rather rip it. Best story that sums up this place: I know a girl who went, had a waitress spill a drink on her, then b*tch at HER. ("Get out of my way, b*tch." The girl was sitting at a table when it happened.) The girl went to tell a manager, who said he'd do something about it. The waitress saw this and came over to the girl again and said, "I saw you trying to tell on me, but I'm f*cking the management, b*tch." The customers aren't much better. It's trendy, so people go there. It would be a LOT cooler if somebody told rednecks it was THE place to hang out for about two years...
-- Al's: Good drink specials, and Happy Hour. Great bar top. On weekends and Thursday, it's fraternity / sorority central though and the same rules for getting a drink at Malone's apply. Also, while the eye candy LOOKS tasty, it's all pretty sour.
-- Louie's: Al's for the "I graduated a couple of years ago and am too old for that scene now" crowd. Good Happy Hour.
-- The Mont: Decent-priced. Unless you're on the patio, it can appear DEAD though. Also, if you're not a smoker, you want to avoid the bar. It's usually populated by 50+ old men who look at anybody that hasn't been there for 5+ hours with disdain unless you have boobs. For that matter, if you ARE a smoker, you want to avoid the bar. Horrible bathrooms. The Patio is the draw though... without it, this place would have been out of business YEARS ago.
-- Vista: WAY over-priced. Hooters in Norman went out of business for charging $6-8 for a pitcher. How does this place manage? Also, as was already mentioned, there's NO drink consistancy.
-- Bison Witches: Cute name. Good specials. The problem with this place is that the employees are almost more frattastic than the clientele. I think it's the place I'd be most likely to get into a fight if I ever stayed for more than an hour or so. It's also 50/50 that it'd be with an employee.
-- Hudson's: Too far from campus. Too "old." Leads the town in Average Age of Clientele. Good beer prices and decent "bar food" if you can handle the drive though. It's a good place to get away from "The Scene."

-- As for the places on the East end of Main... I'll let you find those out for yourselves. :D

the_ouskull

[Boarder]

I would swear that at one time at elast that Kelly's was in the Bison witches location. It connected with the room to the west of it. It even had the same bar as Bison Witches does now.

I was friends with some members of a band called "Ringos Of Soul" and got to sit in on a set once. It was cool until someone bought us a round of tequilla shots. Egad.


Liberty D's was the first place I actually ordered a beer when I turned 21. I'm pretty sure I was skipping a class at the time.

[TheHumanAlphabet]

Okay, old fogey here...UG at OU 1978-1982...

Best place to drink without ID and without a membership...
The Mont
Brother's
Liberty Drugs - morphed into Liberty D's
Old Number 7 Club
O'Connells
Dallas (the dancing palace ;) )

Best Place to drink and see nekkid ladies
High Horse Saloon (skankiest ladies in Norman)
Sugers
Walter Mitty's (owned by the Engineers Club at one time...)

[King Crimson]

I would swear that at one time at elast that Kelly's was in the Bison witches location. It connected with the room to the west of it. It even had the same bar as Bison Witches does now.
.

come to think of it, there may have been two incarnations of Kelly's. though, i'm nearly positive the first was on the southside of Main.

there was also in the Bison Witches block an underground indie music club (called Subterranea) in the mid 80's where the replacements, minutemen, scratch acid, local bands, a lot of austin bands and hardcore shows were. it was short-lived and not very popular with the downtown merchants. after that, the local indie shows were up in OKC at the Bowery or Velvet Underground.

[fadada1]

"back in the day" refers to 89-91 (and then the second try 97-00).

maybe i should've avoided bill's "back in the day".

[OUBabe]

the original Kelly's was on the southside of Main.

Back during liquor by the wink, Toto's had drinks 24/7

[Rhino]

In 93ish I drank my first Zima at The Mont. That was also the year I went to ToTo's but it was dead so my date and I saw Ancient Chinese Pen*s at Rome instead. I work with the drummer from ACP.

[Hamhock]

Is JJ's pizza shop still around? It was on Lindsey, right across from the Chop House.

Underage pitcher goodness when I was there.

[Harry Beanbag]

In 93ish I drank my first Zima at The Mont. That was also the year I went to ToTo's but it was dead so my date and I saw Ancient Chinese Pen*s at Rome instead.


Ah Rome. I remember that place, lots of good and bad times there.

[sooneron]

86-90ish:

Grey Fox
Red Fox
SRO (Standing Room Only)
The Edge
Yep, throw in the Mont for drinking on Monday and Liberty D's

Red Fox had the best specials- their free beer was ridiculous. Not to mention the wet t shirt contests.

I tended and occaisionally dj'ed at Rome/The Edge when Frejo was out of town.

Thursdays at SRO were unparalleled. People would actually come down from Tulsa and OKC for that place. You cannot say that about any place in Norman since then.

Hoops seemed to be raucous at times late at night when I was a youngster.

Kelly's was first on the southside of Main .

Service Station was fun but changed ownership too much.

I worked with the bass player from Ancient Chinese Penis. I even wore one of their shirts in an MTV promo back when I was a PA and asked to be an extra in it.

[Sooner Born Sooner Bred]

Ah Brian Frejo, good times. I went to school with his sisters Happy and Lucky.

[sooneron]

I think he still spins somewhere in OKC. Last I heard, Samurai, now that's gone.

[C&CDean]

1. Boogie Hill up on Porter and Tecumseh. You could get fresh rabbit stew, see noodlers come in with their arms all chewed up and a half-dozen 50 pound catfish in the back of their pickups outside, and could get into a fight at will.

2. Denco's, but only for the Darlin'.

3. Old #9 on Alameda.

4. O'Connell's/Mont/Interurban all the same to me.

5. Walter Mitty's. I saw a couple chicks do things there that to that point I believed physically impossible.

[OUBabe]

I never went in Boogie Hill but when I lived in GA, one of my friends there made a stop here on a Sunday and he stopped at Boogie Hill. He said in all his travels, he had never meet a friendlier bunch of people. They fed him, bought all his drinks and housed him for the night. More importantly they gave him an OU hat so I wasn't the only person in Disgusta wearing one :)

[Boarder]

Boogie Hill, that's a name I haven't heard in a while.

[frankensooner]

One night when I was a sophomore, a big group of us went to the orginal Misal location on Campus Corner, I think we rented the place out as we were the only people there, it was fantastic. It seems like we sat around on cushions and drank copious amounts of booze. Everyone talked about the Jock Strap, but it closed up the year before I got to OU. Why Why Why did I have to go to NSU my Freshman year? ;)

[C&CDean]

I never went in Boogie Hill but when I lived in GA, one of my friends there made a stop here on a Sunday and he stopped at Boogie Hill. He said in all his travels, he had never meet a friendlier bunch of people. They fed him, bought all his drinks and housed him for the night. More importantly they gave him an OU hat so I wasn't the only person in Disgusta wearing one :)

As long as you were decent with them, they were more than decent back. Of course if'n you wanted your *** beat, they'd be more than happy to oblige. I watched a Postal student from Green Bay take a beating of epic proportion there one night.

Dude was running his mouth about "my personal physician is also the doctor for the Packers" and then he started in about being an "Air Force Ranger, with over 700 jumps" - and when I asked him "how long were you in?" and he said "2 years." I said "well, I've got a lot of jumps, but to get 700 in two years you'd of had to jump every day." He goes "yeah, I was up in Alaska, we did rescue jumping every day." From that point on I thought "I won't lift a finger to help this ****** bag out."

And sure enough, maybe an hour later he starts hitting on a chick playing pool - with her husband. Husband asked him to back off a couple times, GB dude didn't, and the next thing I know husband had hit him with a cue ball, he went down like a sack of ****, and husband commenced to kick him all the way out the back door and through the parking lot. Finally somebody called him off.

The following Monday, GB dude has several broken ribs, broken jaw, broken teeth, broken orbital socket, a couple broken fingers, numerous scrapes/abrasions/cuts/gashes. His lawyer tried to get me to testify against husband (yes, the GB dude filed charges) but I just told him "he deserved to get his *** kicked" and they finally dropped it all.

The funniest part about the whole deal was on the Monday when GB dude is in the hospital, his fellow students (who had tired of his mouth) in the accident investigation class were trying to calculate the co-efficient of friction on the skid marks in the parking lot from his body being kicked across it. One of them was pretty artistic and drew a big picture up on the chalk board (yes, we still had chalk boards back then) of him under a parachute with the words "Ranger Jim" on the canopy and the body all covered with scars and dripping blood.

When he came into the class on Thursday to pack up his books to go home he was like "you guys are pricks - I was nearly savagely beaten to death by a goddamn redneck and you think it's funny?" Almost in unison they go "yup."

[Boarder]

Green Bay story


Yet another fine example of why Dean needs a talk show.

[Soonrboy]

The Dean and Rosy Show. I'd watch. **** Regis and Kelly.

[sooneron]

Eureka was good during the summer when it wasn't fratted out.

[C&CDean]

The Dean and Rosy Show. I'd watch. **** Regis and Kelly.

You know, I've baned posters for less than that. Rosy? I got your Rosy right ****ing here pal.

[Grimey]

95-99

I hung out mostly at Coaches. But I loved the Mont and Interurban.

Had fun seeing Banana Seat at Coaches, and Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey at Interurban.