Multistory bars hosting bands and DJs that roam the southern circuit while students pack like sardines into their choice of three club-like bars highlight a modern Auburn Saturday night. As the town of Auburn explodes into a city, the once small southern town has seen its personality change in its drinking culture.
“We didn't have Skybar,” said Class of 1990 Auburn graduate Brian Donehoo. “We didn’t have all the craziness you guys have nowadays.”
During the mid to late 80s Auburn had a different persona, the War Eagle Supper Club was the popular choice for college students letting loose on a weekend night. Located on South College, a former brothel turned bar hosted bands such as Widespread Panic and The Velcro Pygmies.
“It was an Auburn iconic place for many, many years,” General Manager of Baumhower’s Victory Grille Scott Heathcock said.
Along with the War Eagle Supper Club, the 80s in Auburn was home to bars like Darnell’s, Denaro’s and Waldo Peppers, but downtown has seen a makeover especially in recent years.
“Toomer’s (Corner) and the Auburn Hardware Store are about the only two things that exist today that looked like it did downtown,” said Donehoo. “It was probably 20 percent as big as what kind of downtown is now.”
As the decade changed so did Auburn, the late Greg Bradshaw opened Mellow Mushroom in 1996 playing host to late-night live music for years until opening Bodega, a two-story bar located on the grounds of the downtown Whataburger.
“Greg was really a pioneer downtown,” said Heathcock, a friend of Bradshaw and former colleague at Bodega. “When we got Bodega rolling in 98 it really became a hotspot downtown.”
During this time, the city of Auburn mandated that 60 percent of bar revenue had to come from food. Bradshaw emphasized that this was how the city government was able to keep downtown Auburn relatively free from becoming oversaturated with bars.
At the time, Bodega was the hub for live music in Auburn. “We didn’t do DJs and stuff they do now, it was just a completely different scene, almost more a jam band scene,” said Heathcock reminiscing on his days at Bodega.
In the modern era, Auburn looks and feels different. Auburn students have their selection of major bars such as Skybar, Southeastern and 1716. All of which comfortably accommodate thousands of people on any given Saturday.
“We’ll see numbers from 1,800 to up to 2,500 people come through that door within the 20 hours that we are open if we are open in the morning,” said head of security at 1716 Tucker Bush.
From an outside perspective, Auburn’s bar scene may seem underwhelming as on paper there is not much variety in choosing where to spend a night out, but these bars thrive on customer fidelity. In turn, making it difficult for the potential for another bar to succeed.
“They would need to have some major mojo to pull a lot of the loyal customer base that all these bars have,” said Bush. “They all have their appeal from their customer base and it would take a big thing to want people to come.”
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