Nightlife

“I love the nightlife!

I’ve got to boogie!”

—Atlanta’s own Alicia Bridges

When the sun goes down, Atlanta gets a new attitude. Night brings an end to the day’s problems, replacing them with more pleasant concerns. For a few happy hours, “Where are we going?” “Who’s meeting us there?” and “What’s everyone doing later?” become the most important issues.

Nightlife has always been a part of Atlanta. The first tavern, after all, opened 10 years before the first church. And Moses Formwalt, a tinsmith and still-maker backed by the Free and Rowdy Party, defeated the Morals Party’s temperance candidate in the first mayoral election in 1848.

In the late 1960s and ’70s, Atlanta’s nightlife exploded. At legendary (now closed) nightclubs such as Richard’s, the Limelight, the Electric Ballroom, the Agora Ballroom, Finnochio, the Great Southeast Music Hall, the 688 Club, and Rumors, Atlanta audiences rocked out up close to stars such as the Allman Brothers, the Police, the Clash, Bonnie Raitt, and the

B-52’s, as well as legendary local bands like the Dead Kennedys, Love Tractor, R.E.M., and Col. Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit. Locals and tourists alike flocked to the original Underground Atlanta, a shadowy, boozy adult playground that was quite different from the present-day shopping and entertainment complex. Those were wild days in Atlanta: Midtown was a hippie zone, Piedmont Park was the site of frequent anti-war protests and drug raids, and X-rated bookstores and cinemas were as commonplace as today’s coffeehouses.

Today, there’s still something for everyone in Atlanta’s nightlife lineup. You can relax with friends at an unpretentious neighborhood pub; sip pricey martinis at the latest see-and-be-seen trendy bar; gossip and giggle at a drag show; whoop and holler like a cowboy at an urban roadhouse; dance from dusk to dawn in a packed discotheque; groove to the latest, loudest live rock; mellow out to acoustic, folk, or jazz performances; laugh yourself to tears at a comedy hotspot; or, if you prefer, sip cocktails while totally nude female or male dancers entertain.

The ever-changing nature of life in Atlanta is nowhere more evident than in the city’s nightlife. Clubs, bars, and coffeehouses open, close, remodel, and disappear with amazing speed. We could tell you about the pricey seafood restaurant that’s now a live music club showcasing the latest bands or the leather bar that became an upscale steak house, but take our word for it: Everything about Atlanta nightlife is subject to change, so call first or check the local press for up-to-date info.

Theme nights are a continuing trend in Atlanta nightspots. A club may have live rock bands one night, a gay dance party the next, and attract a largely African-American singles crowd yet another evening. Even though a club’s name remains the same, its nightly ambience, music, and entertainment may change with the wind.

Don’t assume, just because you’ve been to a club before, that its entertainment and door policies will be the same when you return. It’s always a good idea to call first if you’re not sure. Many of the larger clubs now have sophisticated answering systems you can access with a touch-tone phone or sites on the Internet that give travel directions and information about entertainment, nightly specials, and cover charges.

A little about the history of prohibition in Atlanta is in order here. Imposed once by a county referendum, then later by the state and the federal governments, laws about drinking were not popular and were widely disregarded.

Atlanta first went dry on July 1, 1886, after a Fulton County referendum. But on November 26, 1887, the law was repealed—again, by referendum—and 40 liquor stores were operating in 1888.

A state prohibition law took effect in 1908, shutting down more than 100 Atlanta saloons and liquor stores and one brewery, but a loophole allowing alcohol sales in private clubs led to the proliferation of “locker clubs,” typically upstairs in office buildings, which called themselves private clubs but were basically bars. Legally, at least, Atlanta had been dry for a dozen years when prohibition became law nationally.

Following the 1933 repeal of prohibition, Georgia Governor E. D. Rivers signed legislation in 1938 allowing local option alcohol sales. Fulton County went wet by a margin of better than three to one. A dozen liquor stores opened on April 25, 1938, and the Atlanta Constitution reported: “With their tongues ‘hanging out,’ hundreds of Atlantans flocked to the legal liquor stores to make purchases of state-stamped legal whiskey, many of them buying legal liquor for the first time in their lives.” For more historical information about prohibition, or Atlanta history in general, Franklin Garrett’s book Atlanta and Environs is the place to look.

These days, the sale of alcohol in supermarkets and liquor stores ends before midnight on Saturday night and does not resume until Monday morning. Restaurants can’t serve booze until after church on Sundays at 12:30 p.m.

Several local periodicals, which are detailed in our Media chapter, offer up-to-the-minute coverage for Atlanta’s night crawlers: These are the best ways to find out what’s happening on any given night or weekend in Atlanta. Look to the Weekend Guide section in Friday’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution or the weekly Creative Loafing for an entertainment calendar with extensive information on the nightly action at dozens of clubs. For information on some of the 30 bars and clubs that cater to gays and lesbians, pick up a copy of Southern Voice.