Nectar's

Nectar's really was like the touchstone of our young lives. It was home base. If you were going to get together with friends and go out for the evening, you at least met there to decide where you were going. You might go to another place for a bit, but usually you'd step back in to Nectar's just to reconnoiter. It was as much a lounge as anything else. It always had live music, so I dare say the place held extra meaning for those of us touched in that particular way. Also, it never charged a cover.

The food was fantastic and fantastically bad for you. The staff were all long-serving employees and each one was a character that helped color the whole experience. In a lot of ways it was like high school. There were cliques and circles of friends - some you could hang with, some you would just smile and nod at. Different nights of the week had slightly different personalities depending on which band was playing, but even if it wasn't your kind of night, the food was always there for you and if you timed it right you could show up during set break and eat in relative peace. So even if you weren't "going out" that night, you still stopped in to this place to connect with your central nervous system. And on the nights when you were there to see the band, you saw and heard some stuff you'd never forget.

You could probably describe Nectar on paper and most people would think "Yeah - I got it" but it couldn't really tell the story of his significance. The most involved owner you'll ever see. He didn't just make all this possible, he fostered it. But it's not like he cultivated or curated it. He just built the perfect platform for the time and let the community express itself through it. It was just meant to be. This word never gets used in a positive light anymore, but Nectar was the enabler. He was also a bit of a guiding light. Your band better start at 9PM sharp though.

Even though the current "Nectar's" is closing for good (and in this case I mean "for the better") the real Nectar's finished long ago when the avuncular Greek we all knew and loved sold it and retired (and took with him the best breakfast ever served.)

It became a very different place after that. Generations after might have valued other things more, but they never had the chance to refute what we all thought was a good time. They created their own version of Nectar's, but that's partly because they had to.

Today they may wax prosaic about what the place meant to them, but just know they were paying a cover charge and watching a "headliner" that has long since disappeared. We were dodging horrible covers of "Brown Eyed Girl" while enjoying a bowl of turkey soup and a slice of blueberry pie before heading across the street to play pinball.

The Nectar's of the 1980's could never be forgotten and is the reason the Nectar's of today lasted as long as it did, and while this really seems like the part where I should say "We'll miss you, Nectar's!" the truth is most of us said that 35 years ago. The thing we loved was never coming back. So goodbye, whatever that thing is today. It was time for you to go. If it's meant to be, something original will take your place.