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Another lamented “dead” bar: the Decatur Lounge

Current Events

Talk of the Town is dead… long live Talk of the Town

Maybe we shouldn’t get all sentimental about a bar, but c’mon, TOTT was great.

I won’t pretend to the a TOTTer from way back, because I’m not. I am sure there are plenty of people who could tell some great stories about this place, though, and Sunday nights Mike Kelly and Jamie behind the bar and the Colonel spinning rockabilly, tiki, lounge, and punk favorites just couldn’t be beat.

The bar itself had a bunch of character and characters. The crowd was different almost every night of the week. Walnut and oak lined the walls, and there was a series of photos from the Hurricane of ’38 over by the pool table arranged into the letters TOTT. When it was packed, you could hardly move, and when it was empty, maybe you were too intimidated to go in.

There is talk of dismantling the bar and relocating... but part of the charm of this dive was its prime location right downtown. As more and more places go upscale, or get demolished for another hotel like this one, we will lose more and more of the establishments who were able to stick it out through the rough 80’s, but for whatever reason, can’t hold on during the new boom period. Will the establishments that replace them be able to hold on if Providence goes through another bust?

Anecdotes

Erik George and Nancy (the owners) were great people and were always on hand for a laugh and a good time. Place had an eclectic crowd as there could be. Bums drinking the $1.25 drafts during the day, then the working class crowd that came through from 5-7 PM and then the evening crowd that came by afterward that could be anyone and everyone from PC alum to Briuns fans to the local crowd having a few pops before the clubs got rocking. Me, I think I fell into almost every one of those crowds from time to time and enjoyed the place immensely. The charm of Providence was (and I use the term “was” purposly) these little friendly places, and not the sanitized corporate operations where the bar tender is uasually older than you are and he doesn’t speak to you unless he checking your ID, asking you to leave, or telling you how much your drink order was.

Add your Anecdotes

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