Matty Widener owned Surrey Tavern for about 15 years before the popular Highland Avenue venue closed two years ago.
Annette Christian was Surrey Tavern’s original owner.īassist Willie Joe Perrin Jr., of McCormick, S.C., said he played the club when it was known as Annie’s 16th Hole, along with bandleader/guitarist Will Noble, saxman Bobby “Cigarette” Jones, drummer Junior “JR” Cook and pianoman Lasker Watson.
BUDDYS GAY BAR ATLANTA IN 1991 MOVIE
I’m talkin’ movie stars, pro athletes – that was Surrey Tavern’s prime time,” he recalls.Īllen owned the club in the mid-to-late 1990s. “That’s when we attracted all the visitors from the Masters – people from all over the world. “I owned the club when PlayBack, Tim Sanders, Bobby Bush, Lil Butch and TuTu D’Vyne ruled Augusta’s live music scene,” said Allen. You got your hors’ d'oeuvres from Calvert’s and your crawdaddys from French Market Grille,” she smiled.īrent Allen of Columbia County, is a former owner of Surrey Tavern. “They had a piano bar and backgammon tables in the back. “In the mid-1990s, everybody flooded to the far corner of Surrey Center where Studio 54 (later renamed Chevy’s, Coconuts then Surreal) and the Surrey Tavern gave you a choice to hear the best live bands, or the disco dance floor and dee-jay dance music,” she recalled.įor visiting Masters Tournament patrons, Surrey Center was “the place,” mainly due to its proximity to Augusta National Golf Club at the other end of Berckmans and Washington roads. “Before it was Surrey Tavern, it was Agastino’s,” said Midgett-Swain. Kim Midgett-Swain and her husband, Mike Swain, fondly recall the days when they were budding club-hoppers in their early 20s – eagerly making the club circuit when Surrey Center was the city’s hottest West Augusta shopping plaza and featured the now-closed Surrey Tavern. Several former nightclub patrons, musicians and club owners recently offered reflections on some of the many nightclubs, lounges and social establishments that have gone by the wayside. A recent conversation with several "mature" socialites reveals the consensus that "there's nothing like the good ol' days," when the metro area's social scene was "rockin' and rollin.'" "I went online to see if the bar is still open." (It's not, though until a revent fire, plans were to transform the building into a new multi-level bar). "I hope it does re-open because everyone needs a place to go where they are accepted for who they are and can dance their worries away - even if it is only for one night.Augusta-Aiken's social scene has undergone a metamorphosis during the past 30 years, with many once-thriving entertainment venues ceasing to exist.
I threw myself into my career, got married and had kids. I graduated from the U of I and moved to Atlanta to start working for CNN.
BUDDYS GAY BAR ATLANTA IN 1991 PLUS
"Today, some 25 plus years later, I wish I had kept in contact with my C-Street buddies. I am so glad I had that release - both mentally and physically. I made some new friends, had a lot of belly-aching good times and stepped away from my intense studies to simply chill out. "I continued to go there throughout the two years I lived in Champaign-Urbana. I was having a blast, sweating up a storm and laughing with my friend. I danced my heart out, even getting on top of speakers - and no, that is not something I normally do. "We ended up at Chester Street Bar - aka C-Street. While classified as a 'gay bar,' the club was a stomping ground for everyone, regardless of gender or sexual preference. She said she knew the best place to go dancing I was totally game. But one Friday night, a friend suggested we let our hair down and go have some fun. "I didn’t venture out too much in the town as my journalism courses and my graduate assistantship kept me quite busy. I needed freedom and I needed to find myself. I couldn’t wait to experience a larger campus with a more diverse student body and be a plane ride away from home. "I had just graduated from a small, Ivy League wannabe school in rural Pennsylvania. "I moved to Champaign-Urbana in August 1989 from New Jersey to start my graduate studies in broadcast journalism at the University of Illinois," says Jennifer Grubb from the Class of 1991. An ode to the late, great Chester Street, by a future CNN producer who could boogie with the best of them back in the day.