Uptown Lounge

The Uptown Lounge opened in the fall of 1982 on Washington St, and had the dubious distinction of replacing the former "Paris Adult Theater." At the time, it was noted in local papers that the Uptown Lounge's location across the street from the Athens Police Dept would "keep out the undesirables." Cool story, way back before any of this, the building housed a garage, where Ben Epps built Georgia's first airplane in 1907. But we digress. Live music from famous national acts helped make the Uptown Lounge the premier live music joint in Athens by 1987 (especially so when the original 40-Watt Club closed that same year). And of course, there were $3 "Fishbowl" margaritas every Thursday, just to keep up with the other bars in town.