Bars with Character

 

Bars that have Character

By: John R. Halstead

Life Edge copywrite (2020)

 

What exactly does it mean to when I say character? It is a hard thing to define. It consists of a style or flare that is distinctive, unique, often with peculiar qualities that appeal to some and sometimes are looked down on by others. When it comes to bars it can be a trendy upscale jazz joint or a cozy elegant space with brick walls leather chairs, wooden tables and a bar where the music is played softly and you can have a conversation without having to yell. It can be a log cabin type area to warm up in on a freezing mountain side after skiing. Sometimes the best way to define something is to describe what it is not. It is not is a sports bar, most any chain bar, anything that looks like it should be a strip club. No trendy places where you participate in something called clubbing. Character can be good or bad. Often a dilapidated watering hole is the perfect habitat for interesting characters. Other times it is a magnet for hard core criminals.

 

 

 

In this article I want to share a few examples of bars with character that are rooted in older buildings that are showing their age. The rustic and decaying nature of the building is at odds with the chain/franchise America that are clean, reliably the same, are family friendly and are good for not offending the boorish middle-class average citizen. They are located near areas of adventure like mountains, the ocean, or the desert where you get off beat characters that appreciate the character of a bar. They can also be found in cities where politics and intrigue linger.

 

The watering hole that needs remodeling is often the ideal place for a bar that is located with character. Often these places are labeled as dive bars. Regardless of what you call them there are people who love them, but they cannot explain why.

 

To explain character better I will give you some reasons why I often love bars that others call dives. There is a usually an interesting past associated with the tavern. It is part of our history. We can imagine the discussions of those who suffered through the Great Depression finding solace from a hard world having a beer with friends. Dives attract the humble often hard physical laborers. They are rough on the edges, spirited, and quick to act spontaneously. I have made close relationships with workers I met in dives that were more loyal and empathetic than my so-called long-term work-related friends. They are quick to defend you and they can turn violent when treated wrong. They also drink every night as though it were Friday night. Hangovers just do not slow them down. Dives also attract the artsy types. From writers to painters many of them live hard. I am referring to the Hemingway type not the Oscar Wilde type. Dive bars are sanctuaries from the rules and social expectations of the world outside. Political correctness is incorrect and people routinely curse, threaten one another, flirt very assertively and they can do so without fear of being fired and having their picture pasted o the news as a definition of all that is wrong with the world. Liquor loosens tongues and the secrets to life are often revealed in a deep conversation with someone you met an hour ago. The freedom to be yourself is very relieving. Nobody cares why you are in a dive bar instead of another. They do not care who you are. They do not even care who you are trying to be. Bring all these elements together and you are guaranteed an experience of the human condition that is uniquely different than you will at your chain restaurant bar. Stories and lessons from a night in an old bar can stay with you for life. You will hear far better stories than you will find on television. Some are true, most probably are not.

 

In the spirit of sharing different aspects of culture I am going to share a few gems that some would call shacks or think should be condemned. They might feel differently if they went inside but I fear I think too highly of the reality television world and there  wimpy lives that keep them doing the same things in the same ways as though they were in prison. Well moving on as people from the home of the free and the brave let me share a few great watering holes and some great stories.

 

The first bar I want to share with you is the Napoleon House located on the corner of Rue Chartres and Rue St. Louis this bar was built over two hundred years ago in 1797 to be the Mayor Nicholas Giroud’s home. By way of some peculiar thinking a plot was formed in 1820 to free Napoleon Bonaparte from exile in St. Helena. The plan was to bring the Emperor to the New World and the first floor of the building would become Napoleon’s home. The plan was launched in 1821 and involved the infamous pirate/privateer Jean Lafitte. It was not to be though. Legend has it that after a week at sea the boat sent for Napoleon received news that he had died.

 

The building a was acquired by the Impastato family in 1914. The Napoleon House is a superb example of French influence architecture. The building has three levels with a brick stuccoed exterior. The years have aged the building. The plaster is peeling from the walls, beams and some piping are exposed. To some it is an old rotting structure. To others it is an example of romantic decay. The Old-World European feel and the bars patina creates an atmosphere where the past is so close its practically here. As New Orleans resident William Faulkner said, “The past is never dead. It's not even past." The building is now a bar and restaurant.  The walls are covered with aging paintings, portraits of Napoleon, and other framed pieces as well as quotes from regular and famous guests that are packed tightly giving the observer much to entertain themselves with. The floors are uneven so be careful in high heels or cowboy boots. Wooden furniture with leather chairs surrounds the bar. The bar itself is a massive piece of dark wood. A sculpture of Napoleon sits above it all.  The bar plays only classical music adding to the ambience. My introduction came on an unusually cold winter night on a suggestion from some people that overheard our complaining. They told us that there was a fireplace in the bar. My wife and I spent several hours at the bar with a large fire heating us to the bone. I had my first absinthe and a several other alcoholic drinks. I swear that I was hallucinating a side effect that absinthe has falsely been labeled as having. Still what I saw on the stairs has a huge animal. I had my wife look and she saw it too. Did we both hallucinate? The bar and restaurant were full. Surely somebody else would have seen it and commented or pointed in its direction. It was there for a full minute or two and then gone. We will never know.

 

We were warm and happy and being a cold night, I wanted to see Jean Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop Bar which I knew also had a fireplace. It has been said to have been his Jean’s brother’s blacksmith shop. It has also been asserted that the building was used by Jean Laffite to store contraband and as a front for his nefarious business activities. Built is 1722 it is nearly three hundred years old. It is believed to be the oldest building used as a bar in the United States. It is clearly much smaller and vastly different in style then the Napoleon House. It is a Creole cottage style structure with a brick and beam construction. The bar was quiet and had an earthy aged feel like you experience when you visit an old plantation. The bar had a dark brooding feeling that was like the feelings I have had during plantation tours. Given Laffite was engaged in the illegal sale and smuggling of slaves I must wonder if the past is trying to speak to us. The bar has a long past of alleged hauntings and the age of the building and its size had a sobering effect and my wife, and I said a few words of prayer for the enslaved. At the same time the bar’s location on the less crowded bar end of the Bourbon Street made it feel like an excellent place to use as a safe house or a place to strategize criminal activities or to bury scandalous behavior. A non-smoker I bought a pack of cigarettes. They were Native American brand with no additives. The ingredients were tobacco and water. As I inhaled, I looked about as though someone was following me and I pretended to be a spy for an hour or so. On the way back down Bourbon I had my observational powers on full. I was watching for signs of danger, movement in the shadows, and planning how I would defend myself repeating the deadly moves to my wife. I told her for practice to be ready at any time I asked to give me a couple of routes to run to safety. In skullduggery or for just plane safety purposes this is called situational awareness and it is a good skill to keep honed. You will not believe the things that you have been missing.

To be continued