here's a couple of pics to jog your memory. It was packed on Thursday nights as I recall.
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Someone asked about Len Lew's
- Thread starter knock him out john
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A phone booth, a Pontiac Bonneveille, a Ford Maverick (car not new truck for you young'uns), and I believe a Pontiac GTO left of the Budweiser sign out front of the building. 4 things you can't find anymore.. The GMC trucks still around obviously
Cater-cornered from the Crossroads
Edited: Sorry Echols was cater-cornered to the Crossroads. Len-Lew's was about a mile north on Hwy 45
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I got a lot of women there...lost a lot of money shooting pool....was in several fights...got arrested once,,,and got my *** beat a couple of times. 18 year old drinking age back then.
I remember the abandoned building and the sign on 45 about a mile north of the 82 intersection on the West side. About where the Pony is now. My dad talked about it like it was Notre Dame Cathedral. Len Lews, not the Pony. My neighbor in Starkville was the former owner.
That was me, thanks much. Basic building looks familiar but don't recall any of the signage and certainly not the big "eat" sign. Hard to tell in the dark but would have expected to see what looks likes an extension on the right to be over on the left where the pool hall was (and all of the fights went down).
The "Thursday night" thing was always interesting to me but reading comments here, it seems to have lasted well into the 90's if not beyond. Someone told me at the time while State wasn't a "commuter school", a lot of people still went home for the weekend and Thursday served as "Friday night". Guess I was still carrying "that's a school night" with me so don't recall ever partaking but the dorm was certainly quiet.
Is that still a thing or unique to State?
still a thing, not unique to state. College students are so focused on their education, they don’t have enough time to get their partying in on Friday and Saturday nights alone.
Len Lew's, The Crossroads and Echols were all were all classic "beer joints" back in the day. I wish everyone on this board could have experienced them. You would have loved them.
Never made Len-Lew's or Echols but frequented the Landing and the Crossroads and, of course, Mac's.
Early 90s here... I was from Columbus. Mostly everyone wanted to go to The Club or Classix, I was meh but went and had a good time none the less and retired to my family home often. I enjoyed more the apartment parties at College station and Chadwick. Cheers was ok too but small.
Starkville finally has enough night life, today's kid stay in Starkville to party. Only time my kids go to Columbus is for Cracker Barrel.
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My dad, a very astute connoisseur of all things beer said two things about Jax.
1. Beer, none of them are bad, some of them are just better than others.
2. You can buy a case of Jax beer and all 24 will taste different. He would include Dixie in that same sentence sometimes but always Jax.
If I was a businessman with some serious capital, I would invest in 2 new (but old names) in the Starkvegas area. 1) Open up a brand new Len-Lews and 2) a Sarge's cafe specializing in a good ole' greasy breakfast. Maybe even build them at or near their old locations.
Janelle worked the bar--I think. Len Lews had the pay-off pinball machines.. Lodi--break my mind---nine pound steel--chokin kind--all on the juke box they had a killer hamburger steak--$1.75
How about the Waterworks in downtown Columbus, seems like it was a good back in the 70s. Maybe it was gone in the 90s.
Len Lews burned to the ground in the early/mid 80s. I was inside when it caught on fire. It was early afternoon. I was playing the Miss America pinball machine drinking a long neck Bud heavy. The Budweiser guy was delivering beer. He went in the bathroom to take a piss. He came running out of the bathroom yelling the ceiling was on fire. The 2 employees went to the bathroom to take a look. I didn't pay much attention until they started freaking out. The four of us went outside and the roof was on fire big time. We went back inside and the employees saved the cash and stereo equipment. I filled up the trunk of my car with cases of beer. The fire dept eventually showed up but it was too late to do anything. It burned to the ground.
I have no idea how the fire started but the origin was in the attic space. I think there was a wood stove heater on the back wall. The chimney/stove pipe may have caused the fire.
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Welding works. It was more midtown Columbus. Still going in the 80s but shut down sometime in the 80s. It was more of an older folks hangout in the 80s.
I was the one who asked if it was the one that turned into Doug's by the late 80's/early 90's. That's not it. And since Doug's was south of the crossroads, I'm assuming that must have been Echol's prior to my time.
Either way, lots of fun there many nights... after The Landing and before Mack's.
In my older age my memory is a little fuzzy. I do remember a friend of mine was living in a mobile home behind Len Lews and working there when it burned down. Friend called multiple people back in Starkville to say Len Lews was burning. There was a caravan of cars leaving Starkville to go see it burn. I was one of them. For the longest time I had a brick from the building that I collected that night.
Extra credit: wasn’t there a filling station on the corner of old hwy 82 and hwy 45 that sold beer to just about anyone?
Extra credit: wasn’t there a filling station on the corner of old hwy 82 and hwy 45 that sold beer to just about anyone?
I've heard the same thing, but, it was more specific about womens physical features
I don't want to doubt you but I got to State in '82 and pretty sure it was already gone then. It's not like me to forget about a beer joint and not frequent it and I never made it there even as many times as I went to The Landing which was right there. If I see Frog this weekend I'll ask him, that was back in his crazy days and he'll remember. I'll report back...
I do remember State baseball player Bryan Hardwick lived in that trailer around then.
Len Lews was before my time (Fr in 1992). I do recall my dad talking about it and the Crossroads, though.
I was at State from '92 - '97. Our hangouts were The Club (Fr & Soph years), Cheers (if we didn't want to drive), and Classix (later years). I was at Campus View from '94 on and it was a pretty good place for apartment parties.
Drank a lot in The Boomerang Dorms my Fr & Soph years too.... LOL!!
I lived in 1 of 2 trailers out back from 76 till Dec 78
The actual name on the big Sign was " Len Lews Too!