This is what I've wanted for a year and three months - a draft of Spaten at Court Square Tavern. I'm sitting at the bar, where I've sat many many a time before late at night, and this time I'm just a customer. A paying customer, even!
This doesn't really feel real. The place is mostly the same, though it's completely different. It's certainly not going to win awards with the young hipster crowd, which is probably why it's so enjoyable for me to be here now.
The major difference is that I'm here at night and Bill Curtis, the owner, is here. I never saw him up here ever in the old days, except occasionally late at night, or maybe at the beginning of a shift. Now I have a sense he'll be here an awful lot. And that's not a bad thing at all.
I'm so happy to be here. I've ordered my second Spaten. I think I'm going to really enjoy it here again. It's not like any other Charlottesville bar. I don't know what it is, exactly. I never have entirely known why I was drawn to this place. But, here I am.
This will now become the place where I'll go to have a conversation with people. And, I'll feel proud to bring them in here because there's no smoking. I can also have business meetings with people, because I can show them various things on the Internet thanks to the wi-fi.
I look around here and see all the differences, but none of them matter. I'm sitting at my bar! I'm sitting at a place with a lot of history, both personal and Charlottesville. The same guy has owned this place for 31 years now. I'm in the basement of an old hotel that's now a condo complex.
So, for those of us over 21 in the Charlottesville blog community, let's go grab some pitchers of Spaten!
3 comments:
Good news indeed. Court Square Tavern has long been an institution - I'm looking foward to returning.
Still processing the thought of CST with wireless and without smoking - both are improvements but what a change!
Count me in. Do I hear grownup blogger gathering? (No offense to Michael Strickland). Can minors (like Strickland) come if we don't buy them beer?
Michael is certainly welcome. You can get soft drinks, tea, coffee, or even freshly squeezed lemonade or orange juice. It's not a rowdy place, except maybe on Friday nights.
Fun fact: In 2005, I held at least one or two CPN orientation meetings there! I'm actually hoping to do this again real soon, as eventually I'm going to have time to figure out how to really do that.
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