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OMKS READ THIS WHENEVER
YOU THINK ATHENS SUCKS
Y ou've got to have history. You can't even dis
cuss music without histoiy: "sounds like The
Byrds, The Stones, The Beatles, The Who, The
Whatever." To understand Athens and the
University of Georgia, you've got to know where
they came from.
Let's make this easy. We don't have to go back
to the Trustees and the Indians and all that. Let's
just go back to, say, 1960. There are still people
walking around who were alive then. Really. There
are even some people alive who were in college
then: still some automobiles on the road that
were new then; still a few buildings left that were
up then.
Athens in 1960: the live music scene was one
guy playing classical guitar at the Campus
Hideaway pizza joint in Five Points. That was also
the year pizza was invented, and people thought
you were supposed to just eat one piece, like a
piece of pie. Having pizza for supper meant going
to bed hungry. Downtown did not exist at night.
The Varsity (downtown then) and Western Union
were the only places open after dark except for
the movie theaters. After the movies and the
curfew, guys used to drop by the Varsity to eat a
dog and maybe compose a telegram to their loved
ones. This was well before email.
Total enrollment at the University was around
7,000. Girls could not wear shorts on campus or
stay out after 11:15 p.m. weeknights—12:30 a.m.
weekends. Freshmen could not have cars. The
total UGA police department consisted of Dusty, a
tall, skinny old guy in gray khaki shirt and pants
with a .38 revolver stuck in his hip pocket. He
walked everywhere. The science center was new.
No grad studies or coliseum. No Tate Center, J-
school, bus system or parking decks.
There were basically two bars downtown:
Otho's where the Georgia Bar is now, and The Old
South, on the corner across from the bus station,
where the parking lot is now. They could only
serve beer and wine. Sure, people played rock and
roll; they just didn't do it in public.
No Georgia Square Mall, no Beechwood, no
Wal-mart, no 316 to Atlanta, no college radio, no
Internet, no CDs, no air conditioning, no birth
control except condoms and abstinence— "plus la
change, plus la meme temps."
College professors in those days were so dread
fully underpaid that they were instantly recogniz
able by their outdated clothes. They wore coats
and ties to class (there's weren't many women on
the faculty) and their ties and lapels were always
too wide for the prevailing style.
I here were no backpacks; can you believe it?
Students lugged their books in their arms, making
it extremely difficult to light cigarettes. Backpacks
were strictly for camping, ?nd nobody would have
been caught wearing one on campus.
If you wanted to eat out, besides the Varsity
and the Campus Hideaway your choices were
Tony's, a cafe downtown
where Rocky's is now; the
Snack Shack, where the
Holiday Inn Express is now;
Harry's, where Five Points
Bottle Shop is now, and
Allen's in Normaltown,
where Allen's still is: same
decor. The Farm was some
where I can't remember.
There were several boarding
houses around town that
served all-you-can eat-
meat-and-vegetables to the
public. Other than that,
you could drive way out
into the country on the
Atlanta Highway and grab a
barbecue sandwich or a
hamburger steak at Poss's,
which was along about
where Target is now.
Nobody ever ran or
jogged. If you saw some
body running, you knew he
or she was in trouble. It
was almost the same with
people walking, espedally
at night. You just didn't do
it, except on campus, and
then just from a car to a
building.
UGA had a good foot
ball team in 1959; other
than that it was pretty
spotty. The stadium w<>s
never sold out. The Dogs
rarely had a winning
season. The only other
sports were baseball, basketball, tennis, track,
golf and swimming.
Cars were strictly big Amurcan models: Fords,
Chevys and Chrysler products, with a smattering of
American Motors cars like the Rambler. Nothing
Japanese. A few British sports cars. The first
Volkswagen Beetles made their appearance in
Athens around 1958, and they were oddities. You
didn't drive a pickup unless you were a farmer and
couldn't do any better. Jeeps were still the war-
surplus kind.
The country was mired in the kind of political
and social conservatism that it's probably headed
back toward row. 1960 was the high-water mark
for the kind of play-it-safe, don't-rock-the-boat,
go-along-to-get-along, dull, success-oriented con
formity that the later '60s rebelled against after
being awakened by Jack Kennedy's vigorous young
political energy.
What goes 'round comes 'round: there are
people in political power right here right now with
a strong nostalgia for the good old days of the
'50s. They'd love to dismantle the music scene and
anything else fun that they don't control.
If that sounds good to you, then party on,
partner and don't worry. They'll take care of all
the details for you. If, on the other hand, you
like Athens as it is instead of as it was, then get
your ass registered to vote and pay attention to
all the heavy stuff in the front part of this maga
zine.
History: either you make it, or you become it.
Tilton B. Merritt
In 1960 the tie had to just touch the belt and the boy had to just touch the
girl. Then things started to change with Kennedy.
Would like to wish a
Happy First Birthday to
We Deliver
Campus » 581 S. Harris St. • 548-7803
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Westside * Athens West Shopping Center • 549-7700
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