The Red and Black

Issue date: 9/8/08 Section: News

Media Credit: MICHAEL PROCHASKA Garbage piles up downtown on Saturday night following the Georgia-Central Michigan football game. [Click to enlarge]

Editor's note: Michael Prochaska, a contributor for The Red & Black, tracked activity between midnight and sunrise in downtown Athens after the football game Saturday.

Around midnight on Sunday, hoards of students gather under the bright lights and lively music of an overcrowded Five Guys Burgers and Fries.

Downtown Athens is more active at night than Statesboro, said Rico Howard, an engineer and security guard at the Hilton Garden Inn and former Georgia Southern University student. But is Athens the New York of the South, or does it have a bedtime?

Students may need to pull many all-nighters, but the hours are not going to be spent downtown, even on game nights when the town is famous for its congestion.

Athens' bars and clubs all close between 2 and 3 a.m., leaving only a few food services, such as Lay-Z-Shopper convenience store, Jimmy John's sandwich shop and Five Guys open for another hour. Only Athens' famous diner, The Grill, provides 24-hour service and a refuge for those who desire a late-night craving.

Around 4 a.m., the crowd shrinks on College Avenue, where the Grill is located. Street performers pack up their instruments, snack vendors clean up and traffic decreases. What appeared to be a vibrant city now appears deserted. Downtown never does fully shut down, however.

"You might have 14 to 16, maybe 16 to 20 [police] officers working [from 3 a.m. until dawn]," said Athens-Clarke County Officer Jermal Chambers. Spending the night downtown, I could not walk the streets more than 10 minutes without seeing a patrol car or a taxi at every corner.

Theo Berman, an Athens taxi driver, said the busiest hours for the taxi business are between midnight and 3:30 a.m., but there are still some people who need 24-hour service.

"This late, it's basically just people that don't have anywhere else to go … people that are high [and] can't go to sleep … mostly non-students," Howard said.

By 4:30, only the occasional passerby, dumpster trucks picking up bags of beer bottles and a handful of homeless separate downtown Athens from the desolated image of a spaghetti western ghost town.

At 5 a.m., while most of Athens' residences are sleeping, The Grill serves 10 to 15 night prowlers. One of them, Tim Reed, a junior from Nahunta, said he enjoys the idea of having a place nearby for a late-night snack and loves the humble, friendly environment of the restaurant.

Downtown might be well-known for its diverse bars, clubs and concert venues, but for the active insomniac, the city can only offer a single restaurant, making the Grill the "Waffle House" of downtown.

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