Describe The Strip in the 60s-90s

#26
#26
rockytop9808 said:
The city is apparently going to fix it up with a median and other things and try to make it pedestrian friendly. The only good bar on Cumberland now is the Half Barrel.
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Half Barrel is great on a random weekday but essentially becomes just another strip bar on Friday/Saturday nights. Sunspot, with the exception of the horrific crowd that is Wine Night, is the best bar to go and grab a drink or two on any given night.

Where were all of these bars (Library, Lap, etc.) located?
 
#27
#27
I think the Old College Inn is still there; the Last Lap was near there, on the south side of Cumberland, the lower end (farther from 17th, going towards the RR track/trestle).
 
#28
#28
orangesparkles said:
Half Barrel is great on a random weekday but essentially becomes just another strip bar on Friday/Saturday nights. Sunspot, with the exception of the horrific crowd that is Wine Night, is the best bar to go and grab a drink or two on any given night.

Where were all of these bars (Library, Lap, etc.) located?
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Lap and Library were where Buffalo Wild Wings is/was. They were separate, and then they operated more or less as a single bar sometime in the early 90's. The Lap was a beer joint and the Library had music acts most nights of the week. Friday nights before football games were crazy. They usually had a big band play - Sage, Mel and the Party hats, Jason and the Scorchers, Unitz, Velcro Pygmies, White Animals (?).

Ivy's was a pickup joint where Rumorz is now. Before that, it was on Lake Ave. roughly where Cool Beans is. I think it was one spot east of Cool Beans' location.

The Longbranch Saloon used to be where Regions bank (whatever's next to Hannah's - same side of street) is. It was a complete dump and therefore awesome.

There used to be a lot more activity back on Lake Ave. There were three frat houses in that corner of Lake/18th that is now a "park" and a parking garage. There were several versions of a bar that sat where the Renaissance condos (the smaller ones) now sit. The huge condo building at Lake/18th was a bunch of apartments.

Ruby Tuesday was where the Gnome is now.

Hawkeye's was at the corner of White/17th. There is still some sort of bar/restaurant there. They had bands several nights a week in the upstairs.

Quarters was where the Goodwill store is now - couple spaces away from the Yacht Club bar now. Another beer bar.

Roman room was where McAlister's is now. Great subs/etc. and beer.
 
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#34
#34
yep. There were so many hole in the wall joints where you could go have a beer and watch a game, play foosball/pool/darts, hang out, listen to music, get a sub ....


early to mid 90's, there were a couple of different versions of a bar where Panera is now. If you stripped the carpet and tables out of panera and put in some dart boards and pool tables, that would be it.
 
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#35
#35
Sun Spot has been my favorite spot for going on 5+ years...but I'm older now.

When I was on the Hill, the best spot for me was my house in the Fort on game days.

We had a house with parking that would fit 8 cars and charge $10/spot. We'd go to Kroger the morning of game day and get a keg, brats, hamburgers, etc. Parking would usually cover our costs for the food since there was 5 of us.

Win or lose, we'd usually throw a party after. Some were "ok" (especially after losses) and others were...some of the best nights of my life.

The house was a dump but compared to some of the other houses in the Fort at that time, it was a palace.

We had a deck that could easily fit 50-80 (or more) people....with a bar and a kegerator.

GOD. I. MISS. COLLEGE.
 
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#36
#36
The Strip was great in the 70's. You had the Roman Room and the best deli in the world on the street behind it, that always had a line out the door at 2:00AM. Up the street you had the Torch and the Varsity Inn that were both great Greek diners up by the UT Book Store. Then there was Ollie's Trolley that was another great late night place to eat that only served burgers and fries with no fixins. The only one left in the country is in Louisville KY. There was also an O'Charleys on the Strip that for some reason was always playing that song from Deliverance on the juke box, they closed in 74 I think.

The Last Lap had the first Pong machine and air hockey in Knoxville. What a great beer joint, that was always packed. Same for the Tap Room on the west end of the strip. Then the Tressel Package Store at the end of the Strip had the coldest beer in town. The first Ruby Tuesday's was opened just off the strip in 72 and that place was fantastic. There was nothing at Old City, Gay Street was a disaster with 2 XXX theaters, including the venerable Bijou. One of the hottest places in town was the pub at the Jolly Ox way out Kingston Pike by Cedar Bluff. That was a stretch from campus but on Thursday nights they had a late night happy hour that would usually jam more than 1000 students in for 2 for 1 Skip and Go Naked.... they were flaming until one of the waitresses and bartenders almost burned to death one night. Oh yeah, there was a great night club down by the railroad tressel below The Hill. They had Friday Happy Hour and $0.50 All You Can Drink beer. Then there was the L&N Hotel across from the old train station. They made these things called Spiders that was some kind of fried sweet potato thing that was the best **** I've ever had.

Anyway, Knoxville was a lot of fun back then. The cops left us alone and the campus police never got in the way. Nobody ever got arrested, and the bars always encouraged everybody to drink as much as they could before driving home.

Oh yeah, then there was Brother Jacks BBQ and the Smokey Mountain Market at the Henley St bridge. Ahhh, good times. Cant remember anything else.
 
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#37
#37
bamahatr said:
The Strip was great in the 70's. You had the Roman Room and the best deli in the world on the street behind it, that always had a line out the door at 2:00AM. Up the street you had the Torch and the Varsity Inn that were both great Greek diners up by the UT Book Store. Then there was Ollie's Trolley that was another great late night place to eat that only served burgers and fries with no fixins. The only one left in the country is in Louisville KY. There was also an O'Charleys on the Strip that for some reason was always playing that song from Deliverance on the juke box, they closed in 74 I think.

The Last Lap had the first Pong machine and air hockey in Knoxville. What a great beer joint, that was always packed. Same for the Tap Room on the west end of the strip. Then the Tressel Package Store at the end of the Strip had the coldest beer in town. The first Ruby Tuesday's was opened just off the strip in 72 and that place was fantastic. There was nothing at Old City, Gay Street was a disaster with 2 XXX theaters, including the venerable Bijou. One of the hottest places in town was the pub at the Jolly Ox way out Kingston Pike by Cedar Bluff. That was a stretch from campus but on Thursday nights they had a late night happy hour that would usually jam more than 1000 students in for 2 for 1 Skip and Go Naked.... they were flaming until one of the waitresses and bartenders almost burned to death one night. Oh yeah, there was a great night club down by the railroad tressel below The Hill. They had Friday Happy Hour and $0.50 All You Can Drink beer. Then there was the L&N Hotel across from the old train station. They made these things called Spiders that was some kind of fried sweet potato thing that was the best **** I've ever had.

Anyway, Knoxville was a lot of fun back then. The cops left us alone and the campus police never got in the way. Nobody ever got arrested, and the bars always encouraged everybody to drink as much as they could before driving home.

Oh yeah, then there was Brother Jacks BBQ and the Smokey Mountain Market at the Henley St bridge. Ahhh, good times. Cant remember anything else.
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Dang, boy, you pretty much covered it! I remember being a green freshman country boy in 73 and going to Ruby Tuesday's where they had ... Sangria! And snails that you could eat! Ollie's Trolley was pretty cool, had peppery fries and Polish sausage sandwiches with green peppers, iirc. Later I worked at Sam N Andy's Deli for a while and there I learned a colorful vocabulary of Greek cuss words. And the L&N is where my wife-to-be introduced me to her nursing student friends and I tried to impress them with my abilities to drink from a beer mug with no hands. Oops. Good times, indeed. :good!:
 
#38
#38
Daddy Gee said:
Lap and Library were where Buffalo Wild Wings is/was. They were separate, and then they operated more or less as a single bar sometime in the early 90's. The Lap was a beer joint and the Library had music acts most nights of the week. Friday nights before football games were crazy. They usually had a big band play - Sage, Mel and the Party hats, Jason and the Scorchers, Unitz, Velcro Pygmies, White Animals (?).

Ivy's was a pickup joint where Rumorz is now. Before that, it was on Lake Ave. roughly where Cool Beans is. I think it was one spot east of Cool Beans' location.

The Longbranch Saloon used to be where Regions bank (whatever's next to Hannah's - same side of street) is. It was a complete dump and therefore awesome.

There used to be a lot more activity back on Lake Ave. There were three frat houses in that corner of Lake/18th that is now a "park" and a parking garage. There were several versions of a bar that sat where the Renaissance condos (the smaller ones) now sit. The huge condo building at Lake/18th was a bunch of apartments.

Ruby Tuesday was where the Gnome is now.

Hawkeye's was at the corner of White/17th. There is still some sort of bar/restaurant there. They had bands several nights a week in the upstairs.

Quarters was where the Goodwill store is now - couple spaces away from the Yacht Club bar now. Another beer bar.

Roman room was where McAlister's is now. Great subs/etc. and beer.
Click to expand...

great recap, I was there 85-89, and the Annex was on Lake, and I drank alot of beer in their
Also $1.00 Long Island Iced Teas Thursday's at Copper Cellar

The other great thing was watching Tall Paul, play at the different spots on the Strip, and Kingston Pike
 
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#39
#39
vol_in_il said:
great recap, I was there 85-89, and the Annex was on Lake, and I drank alot of beer in their
Also $1.00 Long Island Iced Teas Thursday's at Copper Cellar

The other great thing was watching Tall Paul, play at the different spots on the Strip, and Kingston Pike
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yep. saw him play at the library and darryl's (bearden) many many times


There were so many places to eat on the strip too. There was Benji's (deli) behind the bookstore at 17th/cumberland ..

The Torch, The Varsity, Gus's, Sam and Andy's, Roman Room, Vic and Bill's, the old OCI, Ruby Tuesday, David's (never ate there much), Antonio's, Stefano's (still there of course) ..

I'm sure I'm forgetting some ..
 
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#40
#40
Daddy Gee said:
yep. saw him play at the library and darryl's (bearden) many many times


There were so many places to eat on the strip too. There was Benji's (deli) behind the bookstore at 17th/cumberland ..

The Torch, The Varsity, Gus's, Sam and Andy's, Roman Room, Vic and Bill's, the old OCI, Ruby Tuesday, David's (never ate there much), Antonio's, Stefano's (still there of course) ..

I'm sure I'm forgetting some ..
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Darryl's, the restrauants ?
One on the hill on Kingston Pike and the other off Merchants Dr.
i really enjoyed them, hated for them to close.
 
#41
#41
what about Doodles ?
Iirc that was the name. located on west Kingston where the Japanese steak house is now.
I had some good times in that place.
 
#43
#43
Maybe I'm the only one but I thought Tall Paul sucked. Never once made an effort to go anywhere he was playing
 
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#46
#46
Lot of great memories in the Roman Room, Gus's and Sam & Andy's. The Captain family were good people. Here's George running the RR.
bezdomny-albums-sam++andy%27s-picture3983t-george-samandandys52.jpg
 
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#47
#47
Daddy Gee said:
yep. saw him play at the library and darryl's (bearden) many many times


There were so many places to eat on the strip too. There was Benji's (deli) behind the bookstore at 17th/cumberland ..

The Torch, The Varsity, Gus's, Sam and Andy's, Roman Room, Vic and Bill's, the old OCI, Ruby Tuesday, David's (never ate there much), Antonio's, Stefano's (still there of course) ..

I'm sure I'm forgetting some ..
Click to expand...

Darryl's couldn't remember the name, but that's what I meant when I said Kingston Pike
 
#49
#49
Let's not forget Toddy's Backdoor and Monday night football drink-for-free-till-the-first-team-scores!!! Always rooted for a zero-zero tie till at least halftime. Toddy's was on KP just west of campus. Best foosball and horseshoe games in town.
 
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#50
#50
orangebloodgmc said:
Did anybody ever go to the Press Box Lounge in the hotel up the hill on 17th ST? I used to hang out there for a few yrs in late 70s/early 80s.
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Not during your time but I did in the early 90's and then stumbled back to the Zoo. It was a different name but I bet the decor and carpet had not been changed.
 
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