Kelly McDonough College Night
Waiting in line at Pantana Bob’s on a Thursday night, you will find yourself surrounded by what can only be called college night. Students line the street waiting to start the night off right at Katmandu, Pantana Bob’s, East Village or Farmhouse. The reason? Drink specials and a guaranteed good night out. “So many places have such good specials to get the students out. I love the cheap drinks, since I am an unemployed college kid,” Emily Keevil said.
Packed bars, crowded dance floors and happy college students extend far outside this small strip on Hillsborough Street. You can find this scene further down
Hillsborough Street or in downtown Raleigh. College night exists wherever drinks and cover charges are cheap. College kids dressed up and dressed down flow into the streets of Raleigh, bar hopping from place to place.
Students like Keevil spend about an hour and a half getting ready for college night. “If we go to PB’s it takes me less time because you don’t need nice clothes. Make-up always takes a while though. It’s a good night to meet people, so I have to look presentable, even at PB’s,” she joked. Keevil explained that there are so many different places to go, she never gets tired of one place. She likes that she can dress up or dress casual, and still have a great time. “It is my favorite night because you see tons of people your age, and you don’t have to spend as much as you do on weekend nights,” she said. Keevil pointed out how a lot of students go home on the weekends, or go to visit other colleges, but on Thursday everyone is around.
College night is not a new ritual. It roots back to over 30 years ago. Times changed and colleges changed, but the tradition of college night still exists. It still brings
together students from different groups to enjoy a night out on the town. It remains infamous for causing trouble, like drunken driving and violence. However, college night is more famous for the fun it creates. It began years ago, died out and came back to entertain us. College night provides us with stories and memories of what college is really about. If you ask someone in their forties or fifties today what they remember about college, the memories of Thursday nights prevail over what they learned in the classroom.
“Thursday nights became so popular, that so many students would leave the square and pee in the chancellor’s yard across the street,” Van Alston said. The square he is referring to is Hillsborough Square. It was the place to be in the late 1970s. This is when Alston marks the beginning of what he remembers as college night. Hillsborough Square is the area where Red, Hot & Blue and the Players Retreat are located today. The former North Carolina State University student recalled the college nights he had
witnessed back in his college days. Before the Chancellor put an end to college night back in the 70s, places like Deryl’s, the Players Retreat, Ed’s Grocery, Barry’s and Crazy Zack’s provided the night life for students.
The drinking age was 18 and Hillsborough Square was conveniently located in walking distance of the campus. “By the time I came around, Thursday nights were just it. It was the norm. I didn’t ask questions to why they were giving me specials, I just took them,” Alston recalled. He couldn’t pinpoint what started college night on Thursday’s, but he thought it may have been Crazy Zack’s with its dollar buckets of beer. The drink specials began drawing in large crowds. It was followed by other bars that offered one
admission fee to drink at various bars. The legend of college night began, as far as Alston remembers, and the rest is history.
After the Chancellor put an end to Hillsborough Square, many of the bars moved to other locations. A small bar called Dreams was the next wave to come to Hillsborough Street. “It was the greatest bar Raleigh’s ever seen,” Alston said. He remembered the crowds of 150 people squishing into the small bar that only sat 40 people. But after a great run, Dreams only managed to last for five years.
College night died out for a while but was revived in the mid-1980s. The Oyster Bar on 42nd street brought college night back to life by having live cover bands, like Mr. Potato Head. By the 1990s the place to drink was the strip on Hillsborough Street where Katmandu, Farmhouse and Pantana Bob’s is now located. Alston owned the Comet, which is now Katmandu. “I’m one of the few people who majored in beer and got a job in it,” Alston joked. He recalled college night as being driven by music at that point. The Comet had a large dance floor which attracted a lot of people. Back when beer was only $1.50 and liquor drinks were $2.00, they would sell $4,000 a night in drinks.
This block was the new center of nightlife. It included Pantana Bob’s, the Comet, the Cantina and the Brewery. Every place would pack in crowds of people in. Many bars surpassed their capacity limits by hundreds of people. Bars like the Comet would squeeze 400 people into a bar only meant for 99 people. Pantana Bob’s did the same by letting 150 to 200 people into a space fit for 72. While the crowds were big and profitable, there was a huge parking issue that eventually led to college nights decline in 2000.
Away from Hillsborough Street, nightlife was not a big part of downtown
1998. His other bar, Havana Deluxe, was the first bar that only served drinks, no food. When asked what bar he would suggest to college students these days, he did not have an answer. Alston said he did not know what kids liked these days. “I tried to open a bar that I liked and it was only me and the bartender. It helps to have smart, young people that are in-tune to do the creative work,” he said.
College night has changed a lot since Alston’s days but the places to go on Hillsborough remain somewhat the same. Places like Pantana Bob’s and the Players Retreat still exist. Others like the Comet and the Cantina have turned into Katmandu and Farmhouse. Yet, Thursday night is still college night. Drink prices have risen, along with the drinking age, but nonetheless crowds form outside bars everywhere on Thursdays. Alston believes that if the drinking age had not risen, things would be a lot different now. “If the drinking age was still 18, the Comet would still be open and I would be a
millionaire, and you would be talking to me on a satellite on my yacht,” he said. Students today do not know what they missed out on back in the 70s when the drinking age was 18. College night was a whole different thing and it was safer than it is today. “When I was 18, you could keep beer in the fridge in your dorm, and you could walk around campus with a beer in your hand. I remember on a Thursday night, walking around campus at 5 p.m. and going to Ed’s Grocery where they would spin a big wheel to determine the beer special for the night. It was nickel beer,” Alston remembered. Since Hillsborough Square was in walking distance from campus, there was a lot less drinking and driving.
Today’s college night is still spread throughout Hillsborough Street and downtown Raleigh. However, now most NC State students live off Trailwood or
somewhere far enough away that they cannot walk, which causes driving issues to arise. Luckily places on Hillsborough are only a cheap taxi ride away. Their Thursday night drink specials make the ride worth the cash. The small strip on Hillsborough, between Gorman and Dan Allen, allows you to experience four different bars with completely different atmospheres and people.
Pantana Bob’s penny draft night on Thursday’s is only $5 for entry and all the beer you can drink. Even the liquor drinks are only $1.99. It has a dance side and a bar side that has two tables for “beer pong.” It is always packed, inside and out, but you never have to wait for your free Bud Light. Pantana Bob’s is loud and rowdy, but with a never ending flow of beer, most people don’t mind. It is a great place to go if you are looking for something really laid back. Casual dress and $5 dollars is all you really need for a good time. Don’t expect to leave as clean as you came though. Free beer often leads to extremely intoxicated people falling frequently and spilling their drinks. “I have had my share of bad experiences at PB’s because of it is all you can drink special, but it doesn’t stop me from wanting to go back,” Nina Rufty said. If you do get tired of Pantana Bob’s, East Village, Farmhouse and Katmandu are conveniently located in walking distance.
East Village is a little more upscale and allows for more conversation if you’re looking for a laid back bar scene. But you pay for the difference in atmosphere. While they still offer drinks for a discounted price, you won’t find free beer or $2 liquor drinks. Instead you will find the beer of the day priced lower than usual. It is a better place to go if you want to sit and relax with friends, rather than dance and party.
Farmhouse is caught in the middle. It is louder than East Village but has a
different atmosphere than Pantana Bob’s. It takes longer and costs more to get drinks, but you won’t leave covered in beer. Katmandu is different than the other bars in the area. “They have good specials but they charge you each time you refill, which takes the bar tenders a long time. I hate waiting forever to get a drink, but the bar tenders are nice about it,” Rufty said. Katmandu is different from the other bars because of two things you don’t find at the other bars. They serve popcorn and the ALE is often present. “I don’t know if they got in trouble, or if they are trying to stay out of trouble, but the ALE are always there, and even though I am 21 it makes me uncomfortable,” Rufty said. The dance floor is small but after a few drinks a lot of people squish on to it, Nina explained.
If you don’t want to go that far from the apartments off Trailwood, places like Cueva de Lobos and Jax have great specials too. Cueva de Lobos offers penny shots on college night, while Jax offers beer specials like $4.25 for a 32 oz. Blue Moon. The places people love to go vary depending on what they are looking for. Prices, atmosphere and attire play a large part in deciding where to go each Thursday.
If you are looking for a more upscale place but still want specials, places like Blue Martini or Mosaic in downtown would be the place to go. Blue Martini has live music and cheap champagne martinis offered on Thursday’s. “Blue Martini is one of my favorite places to go. It is really expensive usually, like $10 for a martini, but on
Thursday’s its $5 for the champagne ones. I love the live music,” Mischa Mohamed said. The bands are often older and the crowd is not the same as you would find on
Hillsborough Street. The customers are older and more defined, ranging from 21 to 50 in age. It has a dress to impress atmosphere, but it is a nice escape from the party scene.
There is dancing but it low key compared to bars that are targeted specifically to college students.
Whether you are looking for a casual bar scene, an upbeat club or an upscale pub, Raleigh will be able to fill your needs for less on a Thursday night. Places all over
Raleigh offer a broad range of specials to students looking for a good time on college night. The tradition will continue to create significant memories in our lives, and provide us with amusing stories to tell our children. College night will be how we remember our college lives years from now.
