If you own a bar or tavern and you care more about community than quarterly returns, you probably don’t want to host the Poetry Night after-party. We’re drawn to exactly those kinds of places.
The Poetry Night poetry series that I have hosted since 2006 started at a restaurant in the old City Hall building called Bistro 33. The Bistro 33 folks kindly fed the visiting poets before our readings and even offered them honoraria. If the reading didn’t continue past closing time, sometimes some of us would meet for a drink to catch up with each other and to discuss topics poetical and philosophical.
Bistro 33 closed at the start of the pandemic lockdown.
In the 2010s, our after-parties moved to De Vere’s Irish Pub, where I also hosted its Pub Quiz. Because the pub paid me in credit, interns and undergraduate regulars sometimes ate courtesy of Dr. Andy.
The afterparty remained at De Vere’s until the pandemic ended just about all in-person parties. DeVere’s tried to reopen in 2021, but closed for good soon thereafter.
With its outdoor seating, The Wine Shop on 2nd Street was a place that we visited a few times after Poetry Night. They are closed now.
Delta of Venus was a favorite location for our after-parties for the last couple years. Everyone knew and appreciated the Davis artist, author, and drummer Kat, once a Poetry Night regular and a former student of mine, and our favorite Delta employee. Sometimes as many as 20 of us would descend upon Delta, eventually filling up the front patio with stories and laughter. Lee, the owner, created a place that attracted people because he prioritized community over profit. Last year Lee and Delta were presented the Thong Hy Huynh Award for their commitment to community, inclusion, and civil rights in Davis. To express my admiration, earlier this month I released a 34-minute video expressing my appreciation for Delta and its owner.
You have probably read that Lee is retiring. Last month he announced the closure of Delta of Venus.
So, we moved over to The Beer Shoppe on G Street. Last week when I asked why they were accepting only cash, the proprietor told me they would likely be closing for good soon. Today—September 23—is their last day after 15 years. Today Wendy Weitzel announced the closure of Lake Boulevard’s Super Owl Brewing, likely around Thanksgiving.
Here’s what troubles me: Lee won an award for the very values that made Delta difficult to sustain as a business. The qualities for which Lee and Delta were honored—generosity, inclusion, patience, a commitment to community—are not always qualities the market rewards. He prioritized community over profit, and the community showed up. We poets showed up. We filled the patio with stories and laughter.
Poets, artists, and community activists are drawn to the kinds of places that have trouble surviving in the current economy. While we poets stayed late and made these spaces feel alive, we couldn’t make them sustainable.
I wonder what downtown proprietors should know: if the Poetry Night crowd starts meeting at your bar on alternating Thursday evenings, enjoy the company and the conversations. But understand that you’ll host people who gather primarily in establishments that honor community over returns. We seek out such places. And such places run the risk of folding.
Meanwhile, I’m glad that Sudwerk is thriving, especially on Wednesday nights when we typically average 30 or more teams attending our Pub Quiz. Whether we love trivia, live music, or even televised sporting events, we should be doing our part to support spaces that make room for us. Loving a place may require more than filling its patio on a good night; it may mean buying dinner, tipping well, returning on ordinary evenings, and treating its survival as part of the cost of the culture we say we want.
Great poets need great restaurants. But more than that, a community needs third spaces that can survive because they’ve found a way to balance what they and the community value with what the market demands.
Last week it started warm, but then I performed the pub quiz in a hoodie that my wife Kate brought me. What should we expect this evening? Dress in light layers if you plan to enjoy the pub quiz on the beautiful outdoor patio where we have room for almost everyone. The rest of you can sit inside where players will still be having fun. As Coretta Scott King said, “The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members.” I encourage you to come early to snag a table. Also, take heed that the performance of the quiz may move along quickly — the entire quiz is under 700 words long!
In addition to topics raised above, tonight’s pub quiz will feature questions on action verbs, American cities, ancient warriors, architectural institutions, artificial intelligence, beverages, birth decades, bodies of water, Broadway musicals, careers, chemical elements, cinema history, classic authors, collegiate programs, competitions, compositions, computational tools, concealed identities, conflicts, containers, demographic statistics, disguises, dystopian governments, economic pressures, energetic synonyms, environmental movements, European geography, fictional dictators, filmmakers, fitness trends, football positions, fuels, geometric shapes, Greek mythology, horror films, hunters, instrumental ensembles, lawyers, literary characters, magical characters, masterminds, metallurgical processes, monarchs, musical bands, nations, private institutions, professional athletes, programming languages, residues, shells, specific decades, state geography, supernatural creatures, superheroes, typographic designs, woodland creatures, current events, books and authors, and Shakespeare.
Thanks to all the patrons who have been enjoying fresh Pub Quiz content. Thanks especially to new subscribers Janet, Jasmine, Joey, Carly, and The Nevergiveruppers! Every week I check the Patreon to see if there is someone new to thank. I also thank The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, The Outside Agitators, John Poirier’s team Quizimodo, Gena Harper, the conversationally entertaining dinner companions The Mavens who keep attending, despite their ambitious travel schedules and the cost of avocado. Thanks to everyone who supports the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of pub quiz boosters. I appreciate your backing this pub quiz project of mine!
Best,
Dr. Andy
- Books and Authors. Who authored that Twilight series that launched late in the 2000s?
- Current Events – Names in the News. Born in Wabasha in the bordering state of Minnesota, Rep. Tom Tiffany, the Republican nominee for one state’s governor, swam to safety after his plane recently made an emergency landing in a lake. Name the state.
- Sports. The son of Jack Buck, also a Hall of Fame sportscaster, has recently agreed to a new ESPN deal worth over $100 million. Name the Buck.