Dixie to close

[HfieldHoya08]

As far as Buffalo saying he preferred Sugar's/cares more about Sugar's closing, I can see what you're saying, I had been there several times myself, my parents told me Sugar's stories as well as Dixie stories. I think it sucks that either of them closed - both were convenient and "georgetown institutions". Plus, Wagner's is significantly further from campus, haha.

[Boz]

It varies from time to time. In my day (which wasn't TOO too long ago, but it's fading WAY too fast in that rear view mirror), Sugar's was very popular, especially after we moved off campus. I daresay I went there almost as often as I went to Wisey's.

Then again, when I was a freshman, Champions was the hardest bar in the city to get into (thank you very much, Dino Ciccarelli!) and The Tombs was one of the easiest.

I also missed the original Pub by a year (though I did get to go as a HS student). We all loved the new Pub in Leavey, but try telling that to anyone who was around for the Healy days. They weren't buying it.

And F. Scotts used to be THE Saturday night destination (John Clark remains - to this day - a great American and my personal hero). Now it's a pastry kitchen.

Things change, not always for the better.

[hoya01]

The closing of Dixie is sad. The closing of Champs was devestating.

[sleepyjackson21]

Good Riddance to Dixie's. They price gouged for years. No tear shed by me. Key's Place, Trincus, the Charring Cross, Sugar's.....i'll shed a tear for them.

[sweetness]

Tough to believe the Thursday night (Champs), Friday night (Cross), and Saturday night (F Scott) options from my day are now gone. And to echo someone else's point, the 'new' Pub in Leavy may not have been as good as the original, but it was damn good and a terribly traumatic loss when it happened.

[Deleted]

Can people still rent out F. Scotts for formal events and the like?

[TBird41]

buffalohoya said:

Can people still rent out F. Scotts for formal events and the like?

Yup. It happens occasionally--for example Tombs hosted a 99 Days club event last spring during Senior Week. And F. Scotts was open for business two summers ago when Tombs was having work done on its roof. They didn't have a keg setup though, so they served cans of busch light instead of pitchers.

Didn't they end up closing it to regular business because there were a lot of drug busts/use there? The place certain looks like something out of Scarface.

[Jack]

tbird41 said:

buffalohoya said:

Didn't they end up closing it to regular business because there were a lot of drug busts/use there? The place certain looks like something out of Scarface.

They closed it to regular business because it was losing money. Back in the 80's, supposedly it was a pretty big coke scene, which at least brought in money along with the notoriety. By the late 90's, the DC club scene had moved elsewhere and F. Scott's was primarily attracting Georgetown seniors who would get drunk somewhere else and come into F. Scott's late and trash the place without spending much money. My senior year (1999-2000) was the year they closed it down entirely, and ever since it has been only private parties, aside from the aforementioned summer of 2005.

[JohnJacquesLayup]

Never really went to Dixie unless I was feeling unusually lazy. Having lived at 35&0 one year, and Henle another, I became partial to that Liquor store up Wisconsin above Reservoir Rd, next to the Japanese restaurant. 36 pack (well actually 3 twelves) of Keystone for 8 bucks! That's not Wagner's is it?

And I have to agree with Buff about Sugars. I lived directly across O st. from Sugars my senior year. Oh how I miss the hungryman special.

Is Thomas Sweet still open?

[DFW HOYA]

jack said:

They closed it to regular business because it was losing money. Back in the 80's, supposedly it was a pretty big coke scene, which at least brought in money along with the notoriety. By the late 90's, the DC club scene had moved elsewhere and F. Scott's was primarily attracting Georgetown seniors who would get drunk somewhere else and come into F. Scott's late and trash the place without spending much money. My senior year (1999-2000) was the year they closed it down entirely, and ever since it has been only private parties, aside from the aforementioned summer of 2005.

In the mid-80's, F.Scott's was specifically 22 and up, so there was zero college traffic. The wealthier kids found their way to the Third Edition.

The Tombs was one of those places you went to irregualrly because it was a little pricey; of course, today's students have a lot more disposable income.

For those who remember the Pub days, you know that anyone on a tight budget could find solace there. In 1982, a cup of beer was 50 cents--I think it went to all of 75 cents by 1984. Two slices of pizza and two beers was what, $4.00? Try matching that at the Tombs!

[Filo]

I was just thinking about that. I love the Tombs, but upon reflection, I rarely went there while an undergrad, although some classmates did.

Yep, the pub was the place -- truly the greatest "bar" ever. You could walk in by yourself and be assured that you would know a ton of people. If your friends were barteneders, you could also walk in with no money and drink steadily all night. Beat the clock on Friday (?) evening was also great -- beers starting at 35 cents or something crazy like that, and going up a dime each hour.

We used to hear that the Pub ws the largest Beer purchaser / consumer in DC. Anyone know if that was true or just urban legend?

[Coast2CoastHoya]

They say the same thing about the Tombs and high life / busch lite. Not sure if it's true.

Man, for us Generation Burton kids, The Tombs was the best deal around, especially if you knew the bartenders. Where else in town can you plop down, get a pitcher for $6-7, maybe only pay for one or two when you and your friends actually have 7 or 8, and eat for relatively cheap?

But my-oh-my do I envy you 80's and 90's guys who got to experience the Pub -- you definitely win. The closest I think my class ever came to anything resembling the Pub was student bartender night at Hoyas both frosh and senior years. Good times. Good times. That or the "drunk show" some of the DJs on WGTB would put on from time to time....but that's another story.

[DFW HOYA]

filo said:

We used to hear that the Pub ws the largest Beer purchaser / consumer in DC. Anyone know if that was true or just urban legend?

There are some pub alumni who could speak to this directly, but it's entirely possible. The beer trucks would be loading and unloading almost daily from behind Healy.

The whole basement was a money making machine under Pat Metz. The Center Cafe was busy at all hours, the arcade was colleecting a few hundred dollars in quarters every day at the dawn of the video game era, and there were various groups that set up tables with all sorts of merchandise to sell, and I'm guessing they paid a fee for the privilege.

In a strange way, the success of Healy basement sowed the seeds of the failure of such entrepreneurship at Leavey. Marriott made sure that such free-market enterprise was not encouraged, and some at GU were more than happy to see "Bulldog Alley" fail.

[HoyaInsomniac]

Hoyatables and I were discussing the historical preservation/ownership of the Dixie... wouldn't it be cool to say 'oh yeah, I live at Dixie, no big deal'... who owns it? What're they gonna do with it? If I have to move when my lease is up, can I move there?

[Madgesdiq]

I also was more of an Eagle guy than a Dixie guy.

My sophomore year when I lived on Village A roadside (1989-90), Eagle used to have weekly sales of bad beer for under $5 a case on a rotating basis, as long as supplies lasted: Meisterbrau, Milwaukee's Best, Old Milwaukee, Olympia, Iron City, Red White & Blue were in the rotation. I remember looking at the Washington Post every Tuesday morning to see what the cheap beer special was and then piling into my roomates wooden paneled stationwagon and filling it with as much bad beer as we had cash. Olympia was probably the premium bad beer. I could never stomach Milwaukee's Best.

[SFHoya99]

F. Scott's is still rentable through the summer -- but I believe it will close permanently this summer and end up as something else.