Dear Loyola First-Years (and any freshman or sophomore really) who went to Federal Hill last year,
I remember Craig's like yesterday… I remember the sleazy smell while standing on the stage, the dark basement that contained more secrets than Regina George’s hair, the Patio that constantly smelled like the cigarette from heaven… It was unique, distinct, and a hub for all of those college alcoholics in the Northern Baltimore area… It was our frat, our sorority, a place that we were proud to bring our visiting friends from other colleges... Heck, Loyola seniors would bring their parents there at the end of the year instead of a nice restaurant. Craig's was our initiation into drinking and will forever be.
Craig's is now long gone after a brutal battle with the City of Baltimore which was closely live tweeted during the trial. The eyes of Loyola Greyhounds were glued to twitter in early 2015 as our favorite meeting spot melted before our eyes. And with the addition of the transfer of Murphy’s, it was the end of an era… the York Rd bar scene would never be the same.
I apologize, you class of 2019'rs, that you will never experience the same greatness. You will never get to know the combination of the terrible and amazing feeling walking through those doors and paying a $1 cover fee. You will never know the feeling of jumping the fence because the line was too long to get in. You will never experience a real cat night and have the fire alarm go off the same night at 3 a.m. (and if you’re lucky, still have your whiskers drawn on your face, thus giving birth to Jack McCormmick’s name of “whiskers.”)
HOWEVER, little do you know the chain of command. Very little have you respected the realness of real bars. Very little have you shown respect that Federal Hill is a real life bar area. And in addition, the seniors of this past year felt much robbed of an opportunity unique to our seniority since the prehistoric age.
Because of the closure of Craig's, you have not been able to develop correctly the maturity it takes to enter a downtown bar, such as C&R, Bandito’s, and Mad River. May I remind you, real people go to these bars and should not be treated like a shitty college bar. And though I do not blame you for being adventurous due to the crazy closures, you have not been able to experiment your drinking levels in an environment where it is OK to be blacked out/pissed drunk and it is OK to be throwing up in the bathroom (well, that’s not really OK, but it is ten times more acceptable on York Rd). Entering Federal Hill right away is like a five-year-old entering school at fourth grade when he should be in kindergarten; why skip a couple of grades if you can’t even read and do long division? I understand there were a lot of people who drank in high school, but there are also a lot of people who really didn’t drink, especially the amount of alcohol consumed in a college environment; if you fall within the “didn’t drink much” category, and blacked out in Federal Hill, it is SO much harder to get home and you’re gonna look like a fool in front of people who know how to control their alcohol for the most part!
In addition, I don’t know how you young kids could even afford going out downtown. Some kids spend money left and right to get downtown, but don’t realize how much it actually costs to get there. A trip to Zen or a trip to Murphy’s always added up to two-dollars-a-ride in a car full of people; the drinks are cheaper around there and it really is a place to save money. Heck, I would spend $5 in one night sometimes, and would have the best night of my life.
However, in Federal Hill, I can’t name a time where the cost of going out was less than $15. You are going to Federal Hill and spending more money that you could have use for other things (like buying more alcohol). While you are running to mom and dad regarding your never-ending fund of going out money, you are leaving out all those people who cannot afford this lifestyle that want to be part of it and have “the Loyola experience.”
In fact, you might not know this, but Zen was a senior and junior bar not too long ago. The probability of you getting in with a fake id was slim, and I patiently waited ‘til I was 21 to enter those doors for the first time (almost got my id taken away there when I was a young undergrad). I waited and I respected the fact that this bar was for my older peers. As you may know now, this isn’t the case. A place where us seniors were supposed to congregate after our 50’s events, Zen became smothered with underclassman, and the underage, who lessened our costumes and acted like we were the dumb ones for coming out to York Rd. And though I’m not too mad that Zen is no longer like the good ‘ol days—due to the closing of Craig's—it is an experience I would have liked to experience the right way.
Our class, 2016, had patiently waited four years for our opportunity to go out into Federal Hill. It was an experience that we craved as an underclassman. It was a territory run by those who were actually 21. There were always stories of people’s fakes getting taken away and cops showing up, so no one dared to storm the downtown area had they been underage. It was a privilege to go to Federal Hill and a place that was not taken for granted.
Federal hill was a safe haven for the seniors to congregate where we wouldn’t be disrupted by underage underclassmen doing stupid things. It was a place that contained endless bar choices to choose from. But by the end of the school year, we felt robbed. We felt robbed of an experience that should have belonged to us. Robbed of the fact that we had to deal with Craigs as an underclassman, and now we saw first-years enjoying the luxury of Mad River.
Dear young children of Loyola University, I understand that you would like to have fun and think it’s cool to go to Federal Hill. Let me tell you, ya’ll got some guts to even try going out here. But please, when you all becomes seniors, tell me how you feel when first-years enter your territory. Tell me how it feels to feel like you can’t find a place to congregate and feel 21 without underage kids ruining the experience.
And please, stop saying PowerPlant is boring. Be thankful you can even get in there.
Still mad at me?Think you can actually justify why it's OK to go out to Federal Hill? Think I'm wrong? Comment below! Write a response! Create a rebuttal article! Because I would love to know why.
