For graduates moving to new cities, one of the biggest challenges is finding a group of new friends in an unfamiliar town. Luckily, that’s why we have bars.
With thousands of graduates across the country, it isn’t difficult to find an MSU-themed bar to meet people.
Come along as The State News takes you on a cross-country tour of some of the best MSU bars.
Chicago
The city of Chicago pretty much is East Lansing on steroids. With around 22,000 MSU alumni living in the metropolitan area, it has the highest concentration of MSU graduates living outside of Michigan. A destination for many of those alumni is Higgins’ Tavern, 3259 N. Racine Ave.
Owner Jim Higgins is an MSU alumnus and has been on the board of the MSU Alumni Club of Metro Chicago for four years. Not only is he a die-hard Spartan, but he has held season football tickets for 40 years. Higgins said the bar is a great place for the numerous Spartans fans in Chicago to get together and watch their team.
“It’s the Spartan spirit,” Higgins said. “Being with good people, congregating together and being with other people to watch the games.”
Higgins said the bar sponsors a road trip or two per football season, and he is planning to make trips to away games at Illinois and Wisconsin this season.
Washington, D.C.
For Spartans living in the nation’s capital, it’s easy to find a piece of home at Capitol Lounge, 229 Pennsylvania Ave. S.E.
Boasting a special menu of Michigan-themed food for Spartans games, including a version of an East Lansing tradition, Pokey Stix, Capitol Lounge is like a little slice of East Lansing.
Bartender David Thurow, who graduated from MSU in 2006, originated the use of the Capitol Lounge as a gathering place for displaced Spartans. He said the bar is a great place to network, in addition to meeting new friends that seem like old friends.
“D.C. is a polarized town, with politics and partisanship,” Thurow said. “(The bar) gives us a place to go and be with people.”
Thurow said the bar will continue to be the gathering place for Spartans fans in D.C. long after he’s done working there.
He said the bar now notes at the bottom of receipts that it is the “Home of the MSU Spartans.”
“This is institution I kind of built will continue for generations to come,” Thurow said. “It’s something I’d like to come back to in 20 years and know it’s still an MSU bar.”
Atlanta
If you’re in the sprawling city that is Atlanta and need a place to watch an MSU basketball or football game, look no further than Cheyenne Grille, 2391 Peachtree Road.
General manager Russ Adams graduated from MSU in 1998, and said the bar is a gathering place for the younger group of Spartan alumni. Adams said being at the bar on a game day is just like being in East Lansing.
“With people being here just out of State, it makes you feel like you’re at Spartan Stadium or Breslin (Center),” he said.
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Adams said his bar has a “Cheers-type” feel to it — everyone knows everyone else’s name.
He said there’s an atmosphere during big games that can’t really be matched at most large bars in n the country.
“The energy when you have 50 or 100 people watching games, you’ll sit right next to them and be cheering,” he said. “It’s a good energy you can’t duplicate some times. … It’s like being in someone’s living room, but with better TVs.”
New York City
The city that never sleeps is another metropolitan area home to many Spartan graduates. The MSU Alumni Club of Greater New York has its official meeting place at Blondie’s, 212 W. 79th St.
As the destination for Spartan games in NYC, Blondie’s, in its West-side location, boasts two big screen TVs and 40 other TVs, according to the bar’s Web site. A prototypical sports bar, Blondie’s lists its Buffalo Wings as its most appealing menu item.
Blondie’s is also the home of numerous other colleges’ New York City branches of alumni associations, including Penn State, Northwestern, Indiana and Ohio State.
The restaurant’s Web site is “blondiessports.com“http://www.blondiessports.com.
Denver
Located just two blocks from Coors Field, Blake Street Tavern, 2401 Blake
St., is the home of MSU alumni in the Mile High City.
Home to 20 high-definition televisions and a Golden Tee arcade golf game, Blake Street Tavern is the place for Spartans in Denver. Boasting award-winning food, various beers and located next to Colorado’s only whiskey distillery, the bar attracts a host of different crowds.
Among the different alumni groups listed on the bar’s Web site, the local Colorado, Texas Tech and Georgia alumni associations also call Blake Street Tavern home.
For more information check the restaurant’s Web site at blakestreettavern.com.
