Ok, it was parents weekend at a large University. We decided to hit the “famous” college bar. We had been their years ago, and it was a classy establishment, as far as college establishments go. Well things have certainly changed since “I was a kid.” Jammed with students. Absolutely wild and out of control. Smelled like crap. Empties all over the floor, with who knows what. And don’t even think about the bathrooms. You needed decontamination and a set of vaccine shots after that. I thought this was only Frat party legend. Nope. Told the kid the next day (he wasn’t with us at the time) the place was off limits. There are much better places in town. I am still not recovered from the experience. 
I don’t know sounds like the bars I went to in college!
My daughter asked us not to come down for Parent’s Weekend freshman year at her first college. She said the whole campus stunk of beer and urine and was carpeted with empty bottles and cups.
She transferred.
Aw darn. I thought this thread was referring to scarring your kid for life at PW, like calling him by his baby name or trying to slick down his hair with spit in front of his friends. You know, just doing your job.
But, if your kid is of drinking age, no bar (or anything else legal) is off limits no matter what you might say to him.
We’re going back to Ann Arbor for hubby’s 40th reunion in a couple of weeks. I’m pretty sure our favorite bar is a shade of its former self, but we’re going anyway. I’ve also heard that there is less MJ than in our day, but we’re going anyway.
When i was in college back in the Stone Age…the drinking age was 18 in our state. The little college two was filled with bars, most of them pretty seedy.
I went back to visit two years ago, and the drinking age is now 21. Most of the seedy bars are gone…replaced with very nice upscale microbrewery places and some great pubs. And not very many…because many of the students are under 21. The pubs have separate seating for those who are underage and won’t be drinking, but want a pub meal.
Frankly, the town looks leaps and bounds better than it did in the Stone Age.
That seems like a sure way to get your kid to go there. 
It’s interesting how my college bar (in the UK) has changed in 30 years, despite no change in the drinking age. Now it serves coffee, sandwiches and cake, as well as beer, and has subsumed the old (separate) TV room by adding a big screen TV and sofas. Much more upmarket (for a start the floor has carpet not flagstones).
It seems the aim was to provide a social hub where it’s not just about drinking. Not sure how well that works since the alcohol is now available all day, rather than just in the evenings. But maybe students are more sensible in their drinking habits nowadays.
The bar hasn’t changed. You have changed.
The bar I went to as a freshman was pretty sedate. It had placemats with pictures of all the cocktails. I’d try a different one each week. I don’t remember ever having more than one or two. I had more at the dorm parties where drinks were a lot cheaper!
@Eeyore123 so true!!! Burlington VT in the 1980s with a drinking age of 18 had so many of those bars! 10 cent drafts and dollar well drinks depending on the night of the week. It was an experience.
BUT - everything is relative. Would I enjoy that atmosphere now almost 30 years after graduation? I think not! I also do not want to live in a dorm, share a bathroom with 10 other women or go to a frat party!
However now as a Mom and “adult” I think about families who lived in that area during that time and I probably would have avoided those areas with small children!
We went to bars in Winooski!!
It’s called catering to your clientele. Back in the day, I went to many a college bar at Fordham, and loved it. But you couldn’t pay me to hang at those places now. Maybe they’ve changed, but I’m not willing to find out. Don’t want to ruin the memory.
I could never spend more than 15 min with my college kid at their big college bar – jammed, beer spilling everywhere, sticky floors. I left when the parents starting doing jello shots with their kids. Not my scene, but felt like home to the kids. I went back to my own (small) college bar recently to reminisce and it stunk too. I’m just getting old.
" I also do not want to live in a dorm, share a bathroom with 10 other women"
Hm, maybe I’m just getting tired of feeling like the maid at our house, but it would be tempting to share a bathroom with 10 other women if I was no longer expected to be the one that cleaned it all the time.
@eb23282 I bet you and I were hanging out in the same bars! From what I’ve heard the Lantern is no longer around. Clarke’s burned down while I was there (not sure if you were there before or after of me, so you might not have even known about it). It reopened in a different spot but later closed after I graduated.
I am not THAT old. We went to the other common places all all where great, just like I remembered. Didn’t catch any diseases from those.
I will barely go into a nice public bathroom these days.
I’ve brought this up before, but two of my kids graduated from a U that has separate Dad’s Weekend in the fall and Mom’s Weekend in the spring. The kids referred to it as “why is this creepy old guy staring at my chest weekend” and “Mom’s Gone Wild.” The girl working at the pharmacy says they sell out of wine and condoms every Mom’s Weekend.
Both groups end up staggering around the college bars with their kids.
Lol, please diclose that school!
I don’t keep it a secret; S1 and D graduated from WSU. Whole new meaning to “Go Cougs!”
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