uptown again - kim hayes

I found the box of Anise Anise perfume at an estate sale a few years ago.  The perfume was still wrapped up, never used. I purchased it, and when I opened it and sprayed a bit of the familiar light floral scent into the air, all the memories of my bar-hopping days during college returned. 

Liz and I met in junior high school. We attended different high schools and kept in touch. For college, she attended Tulane. I was at Nicholls State in Thibodaux, about an hour’s southwest drive from New Orleans. 

During the late 1980’s, on a Friday in Uptown New Orleans, it’s a night of socializing, drinking and catching up with other friends. The night starts at Rendon Inn, then moves on to AT2’s, and if it isn’t too late and we’re not too drunk, it ends up at Fat Harry’s.   

We spent an hour ‘getting ready’, drowning ourselves in Anise Anise perfume, piling on enough makeup you could ski through and cementing our teased hair (this was the 80s!) with enough hairspray to light a fire. Liz would pick me up and go through a drive-through (usually Rally’s or Burger King) to grab a bite to eat before going to her house to prepare for the night. Liz tended to dress on the conservative side and I preferred the more casual jeans, sneakers (in the 80s, it was Treetorns), and a nice blouse. One of us would decide in advance who would be the primary driver and wouldn’t be drinking as much. 

Rendon Inn was a small neighborhood bar. During the week, it was the place you could grab a beer on the way home from work or shoot some pool with coworkers. Weekends drew the local college crowd from UNO, Tulane and Loyola. The jukebox would blare popular music from the 60s and 70s.  

A single lengthy bar dominated the space and a pool table fit into the corner. It was standing room only, with the crowd spilling into the street. One year, the owners added another room with darts, a ping pong table, another pool table, and a small kitchen. The kitchen served cheese fries, sliders, hot dogs and other random bar snack foods. 

Even though we saw the same people every weekend, there was always news to share and gossip to be passed around while shooting pool or playing darts. Even with the extra space, Rendon Inn was never a place to dance. It was always a meet-up sort of bar. We would arrive by 10 pm and stay for a couple of hours. It was open later, but by midnight, Liz and I were ready to move on and drove over to Audubon Taven II, informally known as AT2’s.

During the day, AT2s was a simple spot for a fast lunch. The location was right in the middle of a small, busy, part-residential, part-business area of Uptown New Orleans. Parking was always a challenge. On weekend nights a DJ played varied music, anywhere from 70s to whatever was popular on the Top 40 80s music charts. Dark wood paneling was the décor; the bar stretched the length of one wall. Toward the rear, one could find a tiny kitchen to order greasy bar fare — cheese fries included — plus the DJ's booth above. It was loud and very crowded. We shouted at each other and at friends in order to be heard over the noise and the music. The crowd dispersed at around 2 am and if we had remaining energy (and were not too drunk), we would head to Fat Harry’s, ending the night. 

Fat Harry’s was a well-known bar on St Charles Ave, in the heart of Uptown. It was popular for being along one of the major Mardi Gras parade routes.

By 2 or 3 am, the bar had a mixed crowd. While it was heavy on the college-age people, there were a good number of older (late twenties and early thirties) customers as well. If one’s stomach wasn’t already full of food from previous places, Fat Harry’s had a small late-night ‘bar menu’ to choose from. The atmosphere was dark and could be loud, the jukebox was turned on high, the music selection was similar to what Rendon Inn had. There wasn’t a lot of people there at that hour. We would walk around, saying hi to anyone we knew and get something to munch on from their kitchen and find a booth or table to sit at and people-watch. It was also a chance to sober up before leaving. It was often close to 4 am before we headed home.  

 Saturday afternoon found Liz and me on the phone at our respective parents’ homes discussing the previous night. The conversation revolved around who we had seen, and any gossip worth sharing. 

A few years later, I was a bridesmaid in Liz’s wedding. She moved out of state and while we kept in touch, over the years, as friendships tend to do, we drifted apart. 

Those weekend nights remind me of less complicated times, before social media. I look back on those memories with fondness. It was a time of being with friends and of being able to have that kind of energy to stay up so late and still be able to function the following day.

And that bottle of Anise Anise that I bought at the estate sale? I used daily until there was none left. It lasted a few months since I know not to drown in it anymore.

Kim lives in Chicago, IL. Her story “A Queen Ann Treasure” was named honorable mention in Third Wednesday’s recent flash fiction contest. Some of her work has recently been published in The Southern Quill, Bull, and Suddenly Without Warning. She is a reader for Hippocampus Magazine.