BEST UNKNOWN BAR CITIES IN NORTH AMERICA STUFF MAGAZINE

(I got this in a forward and would like to give credit and site to whoever wrote it but I don’t have that info)

So you're looking for the best unknown cities for bars?

Let me tell you about Athens, Ohio. Athens is one of the best-kept

secrets in America as it is tucked away in the beautiful hills of

SoutheastOhio. Home of Ohio University, every autumn this small town becomes

packed with 20,000 co-eds and includes one of the most famous drinking

streets in America --Court Street (see Halloween Bash or Daylight Savings

Time riots). Court Street, also called Uptown because every path leading to

the street is uphill, is a 200-year-old brick-layered road that includes 19

bars within a two-block area. The bricks literally provide stumbling blocks

for theimpaired as they cross the streets to other bars.

Drink specials? How about quarter draft night? You can

get drunk for as much as it costs to do laundry (and many times for the poor

college student, it comes down to drastic decisions like

that -- getting drunk or wearing clean underwear).

Quad night is the highlight of the week. Four times the

alcohol in mixed drinks for only two bucks. "Clearance" at the Pub

is a close second. Certain nights from 7-9, alcohol is "on sale"

for half price. Oh, the Pub also offers "Aquariums". It's a great

sight to see everyone drinking beer out of glass fish bowls.

Many of the bars have their own personalities: the

sorority bars, the sports bars, the jock bars, the dance bars, the

band bars, the microbrews, the preppie bars -- but all of them are full of

good people and cold beer.

Famous OU alum bar patrons include: Matt Lauer, Arsenio

Hall, Sugar Ray Leonard (his son played football at OU), Paul Newman, the

guy who plays McGuyver, Piper Perabo (Violet from "Coyote Ugly"), Ed O'Neil

(aka Al Bundy), and even Cooter from "The Dukes of Hazzard"

among others.

The Court Street Shuffle is the holy grail of pub

crawls. They even sell T-shirts to commemorate the night. The

shirts list each of the 19 bars where "Shufflers" are supposed to

have a drink and a shot. Groups of shufflers gather, vote on a

"name" for their shuffle (i.e. "The More I Drink, The Prettier She

Gets Shuffle"), and begin the mission. Bartenders and patrons sign

the shirts and as the night progresses, the shirts become more

filled with messages. It is inevitable to end up with magic marker

stains on the skin. I went "shuffling" with my girlfriend once and

the next day she mysteriously had messages (and phone numbers) written on

her stomach, back,legs and breasts from random guys. And no bar bathroom in

Athens is complete without seeing a random graffiti listing of past

"Shuffles" on the walls.

Late night munchies, like the bars, are also plentiful.

Burger King,Wendy's and Taco Bell (the world's largest Taco Bell)

are all open late to satisfy the drunken hunger of bar patrons.

Also, $1 slices of pizza are freshly baked and served at a local

bakery on Court Street. The legendary Burrito Buggy -- literally a

trailer that serves burritos -- is the king of late night snacking.

Yes, ordinarily the burritos taste like they're made in a trailer,

but at 2:30 a.m., it tastes like heaven.

The best part of all -- no drinking and driving. Nobody

drives to the bars. Court Street is surrounded by housing, so a

walk...er...stumble home is only 5-10 minutes. And since it's

Uptown, it's much easier falling home drunk since it's all

downhill. In fact, Jefferson Hill -- a major pathway to dorms and

apartments -- is one of the steepest hills you'll ever walk up (or

down). It has been known to cause intoxicated people to tumble down

it, scraping knees, bruising tailbones and yes, even knocking out

teeth. (It's the same hill that Paul Newman rolled a keg down as a

student and was expelled.)

So if your looking for a verdict in deciding where to

find a night of cheap drinking, nice people, good-looking young

women and fun, thousands of visitors and residents suggest taking

the bar exam on Court Street.