May 28, 2002

Rod Dreher had the Bayou

Rod Dreher had the Bayou at LSU. While going to UMD, I had the Anchor--even though it was across the bridge in Superior, WI. Just like the Bayou, the Anchor was a dive. The chairs, stools, and tables were old. The doors to the bathrooms didn't completely close. There was some pinball machine that was straight out of 1985.

Did it have charm? Sure, a little. The place had a nook where board games sat on shelves--not that I remember anyone ever playing them. You always saw a sailor who just arrived back from delivering a load of taconite. Some grizzly woman fried hamburgers and fries in the back.

But the reason friends and I went to the Anchor was the cheap beer. On Monday nights, you could get a big pitcher of Budweiser for $2. Bring 5 friends along and you were guaranteed a great buzz.

Besides the cheap beer, my best memories of the Anchor are laughing at College Democrats believing the same socialist bunk after quaffing a few. Were College Republicans any better? We still believed the same conservative beliefs late into the night, but at least our ideas were correct in the first place.

I wonder if the Anchor is still around. I have no desire to find out. Somehow going into a college bar years after being in school wouldn't feel the same. Returning to the Anchor would be like trying to relive the past. What's done is done. We should learn from the past, but not wallow in it. But do they still serve their 3-pound burger, the Gutbuster?

"Memorializing the Bayou"