Athens businesses saw different uses in past decades, from private residences to literary-themed restaurants.
Most Ohio University students know 21 W. Union St. as a place for wings, beer and sports.
However, what many may not realize is that the property previously housed both a local attorney and a Frisch's Big Boy in its past.
The building is just one of many Athens uptown businesses with a colorful history.
In the 1940s, 21 W. Union St. was the private residence of William E. Peters, former practicing Athens attorney and author of a collection of manuscripts housed in Alden Library.
The left side of the property, now a Buffalo Wild Wings, is approximately where Peters’ house once stood. That address was also occupied by a Frisch’s Big Boy restaurant in the 1970s.
“My (now) husband Mark Burhans and I used to love to sit at Frisch’s Big Boy on (West) Union and have vegetable soup and onion rings on cold winter days,” Hilarie Burhans, a 1977 Ohio University alumna said in a Facebook message. “We especially loved being cozy and warm in a booth there when it was cold and damp outside. The vegetable soup and saltine crackers were something we could almost always afford.”
The Burhans attended Athens High School together and now own the local restaurant Salaam, 21 W. Washington St.
Across the street, Jackie O’s Pub and Brewery is the most recent in what has been a long string of bars located at 24 W. Union St.
The Wonder Bar operated from the location in the 1940s and '50s, followed by Jimanott’s Bar & Grill in the '60s and The Graduate in the '70s. And in 1907, the property was the private residence of William H. Cox, a bartender.
Another defunct Athens bar, Swanky’s, occupied a spot just minutes away on Court Street, approximately between what is Wendy’s and CVS Pharmacy today at 34 S. Court St.
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Swanky’s was “a casual place to slosh with your buddies” in the 1970s and early '80s, according to a student quoted in the 1983 Spectrum Green yearbook, which can be found in the OU Archives.
Another student noted the “bathrooms are unbearable but the bartenders are just as much fun as the crowd.”
Swanky’s was also a venue that embraced the unusual. A “come-as-you-will-be” party at the bar in 1974 invited people to dress in costumes inspired by George Orwell’s novel, 1984.
Under the headline “Mutants, sequins and Budweiser in 1984,” a previous Post report describes “a good cold Budweiser with sequin flakes floating around inside” and “an inordinate number of people wearing mechanic’s overalls with 'Steve' or 'Bob' or 'Jim' written in red inside a red circle.”
Not only were some Athens parties inspired by novels, but sometimes the businesses themselves took on literary themes.
The Hobbit House Restaurant shared an address with present-day Habibi’s Restaurant, located at 19 S. Court St.
“Hobbit House rocked!” Michael Massa, a 1982 OU alumnus in a spring 2012 issue of Ohio Today, said. “Neat little place in the basement off of Court Street. Mystical theme and great sweet wheat rolls.”
An Ohio University student who studied English in the late '70s shared a similar sentiment.
“The former business that was probably the most favorite of mine was the Hobbit House Restaurant,” John Robinson, who studied and worked at OU, said in a Facebook message. “I loved that place!”
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