Downtown Richmond - EKU and the City

(Above) Downtown Richmond.

It’s Friday night, and you’re faced with an important question: stay in or go out? College students, for every decade and every campus, have asked this question time and time again. In the 1930s and 1940s, Eastern students went to Club Madison to dance the night away. Bars all over Richmond welcomed students, whether they were of the drinking age or not. This was before the Kentucky Alcohol and Beverage Control (ABC) cabinet started cracking down on Richmond bars. Specks, The Family Dog, J. Sutters Mill and Hurricanes were only a few downtown nightclubs. After the ABC crackdown, Hurricanes installed a Plexiglas barrier between the bar and the dance floor. This segregated underage drinkers from those sidled up to the bar. The nightlife in Richmond has quieted down, but downtown is still the place to be. Cafes, restaurants, and the farmers’ market provide a more accessible night out with the squad.