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Chapel Hill/Carrboro Nightlife: Bars, Music Clubs and Cafes

Living in one of Americas most walkable towns makes every night a weekend for me. Well, it would if I were not so lazy but at least I know that I can go out every night if I choose to and not even have to drive. Most of the places I go are within walking distance but there are a number of bars and clubs that a vehicle is handy, though for those who have not heard "The Buses are Free!" Here is a list of places I like in Chapel Hill either at night or in the morning. Some of the bars are restaurants and you may have noticed I have left them off the restaurants page. Then again you may notice I have left some of the restaurants off the bars page. That is because some restaurants are better places to drink then they are to eat at and so despite not getting listed in my favorite restaurants they did make it on to this page. It doesn't mean they are my favorite bars either, just that they were worth mentioning.

Cats Cradle: Since 1969 there has been a Cat's Cradle with the occasional break between the changing of owners or locations. The current and hopefully permanent location on Main Street in Carrboro is the best and Frank Heath is probably the most respected and intelligent club owner in America. Any band knows that owners of music clubs can be pretty unpleasant human beings. Most of them are burnt out and most clubs just limp along, prospering and suffering with the trends and the bands. Somehow Frank manages to attract the best bands for any generation. I can walk in there one night to see John Mayall playing harp or my daughter can go there to see one of the boy-bands she has a crush on. A list of who has played at the Cradle would impress anyone. It would include Richard Thompson, Don Dixon, NRBQ, Ben Folds Five, Badfinger, Nils Lofgren, Bruce Cockburn, Jr. Brown, Al Stewart, Cheap Trick, Arrogance, Jonathan Richman, Bad Brains, Dave Davies, Dexter Romwebber, Archers of Loaf, Zen Frisbee, Del Amitri, Indigo Girls, Alex Chilton, Chris Stamey, Mitch Easter, Brave Combo, The Replacements, Todd Rundgren (photo), 3 Mustaphas 3, Superchunk, and these are just the groups I have seen there. The club is smoke-free, has lots of different beer and a great sound system. You can't beat this place for live music especially if it is someone you really like. See my collection of vintage Cat's Cradle Calendars

The Art Center: Another great place to hear live music and usually it is someone you have heard of either on the way up or on the way down or where they have been and will always be. They sell beer and wine and many of the shows you need to get tickets in advance because it is a small theater and will sell out if the act is well known. But you can see people like Arlo Guthrie, Billy Preston, Richie Havens, Red Clay Ramblers, Marcia Ball, Steve Forbert, Rick Danko (well, not anymore but he played there), Leon Russel, Fairport Convention, Michael Penn and a lot of people who I have never heard of but manage to sell out the place. The Art Center is on Main Street in Carrboro in the same building as the Cats Cradle.

Orange County Social Club: What the Hardback Cafe was to Chapel Hill, OCSC is to Carrboro, (minus the books, coffee, food, light, live music, Grant and Holly). OCSC is where young triangle artists, musicians, writers and hanger-oners come to talk, play pool, drink and smoke lots of cigarettes. But hell, I come from Greece where everyone smokes so I can take it. Well, maybe not. When I come home from OCSC I have to undress on the porch and enter the house naked and even so when I wake up my pillow smells like smoke and my wife is pissed off at me. But usually it is worth it because I met someone I knew and had a good time. For those who can't handle the smoke you can sit out back under the stars (which you can barely make out through the smoke but at least it is going up and not enveloping you.) So if you don't like cigarette smoke don't come here and if you like it, you have probably been here already. OCSC is on Main Street in Carrboro next to Acme Restaurant where you can go for a quiet non-smokey drink at their bar. Open Monday through Sunday from 4 pm until 2 am. Call 933-0669. It's a private club so you have to be a member, a guest or go through their instantaneous membership process. Cross the street to the old Carrboro train station to Southern Rail which is a great place to hang out and drink in an actual turn-of-the-century railroad station and a very cozy bar car. The station itself has a live music stage and a big beautiful wooden bar. Lots of space outside for  summer nights which in North Carolina can happen at any time of the year.

Local 506: A notch below the Cradle with name bands and some un-named. The Chapel Hill march to fame usually begins at the Cave and goes through Local 506, culminating with a gig at the Cats Cradle before the band breaks up. Local 506 plays host to nationally recognized Sleazefest, Honkeytonk-O-Rama, Sparklefest (my favorite since I am a pop guy) and other music festivals. The club is famous for its Alt-Country/Rockabilly/Southern Rock and  it is rumoured that Southern Culture on the Skids call this home. The bar and pool table are in the front so you can have a conversation if you don't like the band. Located at 506 West Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. Don't be intimidated by its appearance or by all the tatoos. Everyone is very nice and not only might you survive the night you may even make some friends and become a regular. Like the Cradle keep your eyes on the  Chapel Hill kiosks and Carrboro phone poles for their flyers (put up by The Posterguys) to see who is playing. See www.local506.com

The Cave: This is the oldest bar in town and to give you an idea how old when I began playing here in 1980 it had already been around for 12 years. It uses to be a smokey hole-in-the-ground that attracted some pretty good musicians despite being a health threat to anyone who led a relatively pure life. (People who smoke and drink heavily were unaffected). Beginning as a folk club they now have all sorts of bands and solo acts playing and the front room where the bar and the music is is smoke-free. You can catch returning locals like Michael Kelsh and bands like the Countdown Quartet, Evil Weiner, members of Squirrel Nut Zippers, and surprising cameo appearances like really drunk members of REM. Out of town friends that I have brought to the Cave have said to me "Now I know why you live here". I don't know if they meant it as a compliment but that is how I took it. The Cave is at 452 1/2 West Franklin Street. It serves only beer. They even serve dogs (water only).

West End Wine Bar: With an endless list of wines of all prices this is a more upscale place to go but fun no matter what your age is. Not much in the way of food, maybe a cheese plate and a couple appetisers and in my opinion they could improve in that department, but since they are within crawling distance of three of the best restaurants in Chapel Hill (Elaine's, Tellulah's, The Lantern and 411 West. See Restaurants) I guess it does not matter. Upstairs they have a patio and downstairs is another bar with three pool tables, liquor by the drink, beers on tap, and a juke box. The cellar is a good place to watch tarheel basketball if you want to stomp and cheer with your rowdy friends and the main floor is a good place to watch if you want to analyze it. The Wine bar is smoke free and right next to the Cave. If you need to smoke you can go on the terrace or out front. Live jazz some nights. I forget which. If you want more of a selection of food with your wine then go to Glass Half Full in Carrboro.

Wetlands, now called BLEND is an artist friendly space dedicated to bringing independent music to Chapel Hill located on the ground level at 157 E. Rosemary St on the corner of Henderson Street above Hell and below Bub O'Malley's Pub. Wetlands offers draft beers, nightly drink specials and has all ABC permits. Doors open for shows at 8:30 pm. Dance Parties after every show. There is plenty of parking across from the Wetlands at the municipal garage. Parking at the garage is Free if you leave the garage after 2a.m. Wetlands is proud to be at the forefront of supporting Chapel Hill and Carrboro's music scene, and the scene supporting the club. Wetlands is a private club and membership is required. E-mail: info@blendchapelhill.com

The Speakeasy: This is the closest bar to my house and often my last stop. With a large screen TV in their anex and smaller ones in the bar room, lots of choices of imports, micro-brews and crummy American beer, pool tables, girls and guys who know Tarheel basketball (probably football too) and cool bartenders. Live music occasionally too. If it gets a little loud you can go next door to Tylers Tap Room which has even more beer and food as well. Both are located on the corner of Main and South Greensboro Streets in Carrboro.

Blue Bayou Club: Yes it is all the way in Hillsborough but they have some good blues and jazz acts and I wanted to mention them here anyway. From The Nighthawks to Taz Halloween you won't find better live music, at least not in Hillsborough. Live music at least two nights a week, Friday and Saturday, with open-mic night on other nights. You can read about it on my Hillsborough page.

He's Not Here: I have to admit it has been about 20 years since I have gone to this indoor/outdoor bar in downtown Chapel Hill but with the crowds of UNC students still going there and Joel still tending bar I would imagine things have not changed much. They have live music occasionally but it is more known as a place to go have a beer after class or any night of the week. He's not here is behind Carribou Coffee right where Franklin Street meets Columbia.

Carolina Brewery: With "traditional pub food" (if you call "traditional" burgers, sandwiches and nachos) this Chapel Hill bar-restaurant proves that if the beer is good, who cares what the food tastes like. One of two microbreweries in town and with outdoor seating on Franklin Street many people stop here to eat and juice up before a Tarheel game. With Tellulah's, Elaine's, 411 West and the Lantern nearby if you want fine dining juice up here and eat elsewhere. But if you want burgers, fries, and American-style beer-drinking food that you can wash down with good micro-brewed beer then come here. 460 W. Franklin St, Chapel Hill. 942-1800.

Top of the Hill: The other micro-brewery and of this writing the last business left on the corner building that used to be home to the Carolina Theatre, The Gap (see ya), and First Union bank. The best view of any bar in Chapel Hill and the only bar you can take an elevator to. Besides that the food is ok and tastes better the more you drink. (But so do the napkins for that matter.) However the general consensus is that this is a good place to drink, watch the sunset, eat appetisers and wonder what will open up downstairs. Corner of Franklin and Columbia streets this is a great place to watch Apple Chill. 929-8676

Oscars out at Timberline is a pool hall with a decent jukebox, beer and wine, sandwiches and snacks, pinball machines, video games and a number of televisions for Tarheel watchers. Good place to go to kill time if you are waiting for a movie at the Chelsea Theater next door. Well actually Cup-a-Joe's is next door but if coffee keeps you up go have a beer, shoot a game of pool and see an independent film. Or shoot pool all night. Timberline is on Weaver Dairy Road where it connects to Airport Road or Martin Luther King or whatever it is called that far out of town.

Open Eye: This coffee shop in Carrboro may have the best coffee drinks in town. They have live music many nights of the week and even when they don't it is a good place to meet someone as wired as you are to talk to if you are not as shy as they probably are. Now in a new larger location right next to the old smaller one across from the dreaded Wendy's on Main and South Greensboro Street. Their other location, Cafe Driade in Chapel Hill also has music, wine, beer and the feeling that you are out in the woods. You are on the edge of it. Driade is down Franklin Street on the left just before you get to the intersection of Estes Drive. There are very few places in Chapel Hill/Carrboro where you can start your day where you ended the night before. (Time-Out is another).

Johnny's on Main Street on the way out of Carrboro is a cafe-bar-social scene unto itself with a Mexcian taco truck, an Indian food stand and a guy selling hot-dogs. There is live jazz at 9am on Saturday mornings, live music on Friday and Sunday nights and lots of other stuff going on. It is a comfortable place to hang out especially on summer nights but now that they have expanded it should be very cozy in the winter too. See their website and calendar at http://www.johnnyscarrboro.com

If you can't walk that far stop at Looking Glass Cafe for an espresso, a beer, a glass of wine and maybe some live music as well, before continuing your journey.

Time Out Sports Bar is at the Holiday Inn on 15-501 across from Mariakakis and is owned by Eddie who is known to anybody who has had a late night meal at his fastfood restaurant in University Square. Big screen TVs, live music, Pub Poker on Monday night, live jazz on Thursdsay, and the same North Carolina beach bands you will see at the Carolina beaches on weekends. For those who eat there's a breakfast buffet every day and a lunch and dinner menu that includes chicken, steak, ribs, pasta dishes, salads, sandwiches and more, along with a large selection of appetizers and desserts, and full beverage service. Don from the Original North Carolina Sports Bar which was Chapel Hill's first sports bar has helped Eddie turn what could have been your typical Holiday Inn Bar into something a little better and a lot more fun. Its like taking a beach holiday in your own town and if you meet someone you really like there is no place more convenient than the Holiday Inn. Shag lessons on Thursday

Though actually in Durham and not in Chapel Hill, tucked away on the service road that borders 15/501 Business, a couple doors down from Spartacus Restaurant is the Blue Note Grill, your friendly neighborhood ribs and burgers bar and grill that has brought in some really terrific blues bands. It is an intimate setting for hearing some very professional bands and people even get up and dance. Lots of micro beer choices, many of them local, and I can vouch for the baby-back ribs and the pulled pork as well as the shrimp-stuffed jalapeno poppers. They have open blues jams on Tuesday, and live blues and traditional rock bands Weds through Saturday. I saw JW Jones here and they were the best blues band I have seen since the Nighthawks, twenty years ago. The grill is owned by Andrea & Bill Whittington who both cook there and is located at Boulevard Plaza Shopping Center aka 4125 Durham-Chapel Hill Boulevard. This is the kind of place you really have to go out and support. See their website at http://www.thebluenotegrill.com

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