By: Kaylie Saidin

English literature sophomore

Assistant Op/Ed editor

[email protected]

Going to college in New Orleans is, undoubtedly, a different experience than going to college anywhere else. When applying to colleges, you want to say you’re thinking entirely about things like academics or housing, but you’re really thinking about culture. Is your school in a major city? Is there a vibrant culture surrounding it? And, most importantly to the high school senior – is it a party school? The answer is yes for essentially every college in New Orleans. but at the same time it’s got voice, so I don’t mind it” class=”inline-comment collapsed”>

As a freshman, you are thrown into Bacchanalian festivities before classes even begin. You remember the promises you made to your parents when they dropped you off for Wolf Pack Welcome weekend about moderation and sobriety, but all of a sudden, it’s 12:30 a.m. on a weeknight and you’re inside The Boot. Or 3:30 a.m. and you’re on a pool table somewhere dancing with a foreign exchange student. Or you just paid $5 for three full pitchers of beer, and while you’re listening to the 2009 smash hit Bedrock by Young Money, you have the sinking realization that you have a 9:30 a.m. class the next morning.

The excitement of finally being in a college bar wears off when you realize that college students living in Uptown (who are, by the way, majority Tulane students) frequent places that are actually kind of gross. When you accidentally show up a little too sober one night, you notice that the floor looks like it hasn’t been cleaned since the eighties when your parents partied here. You show up on Saturday night and see that the bathrooms still have crusted vomit from Friday night, but you aren’t sure if you should be more disgusted with the bar or with yourself for being there two nights in a row. And finally – and perhaps only relevant to the women of Loyola – you realize that you’re constantly being groped by men in a sea of sweaty drunkenness. Tulane men (and no, you’re not making assumptions, you know they’re Tulane men from their excessive Tulane apparel) circle you and your fellow female friends while you dance like they’re animals hunting. You don’t want to go to places where low-key sexual assault can happen and nobody will notice. You start to value quiet, relaxed music that you can have a conversation over. You start to just want to sit down and have a beer. You feel like your dad.

Cue title card: Bruno’s Tavern. An 18+ bar that most of your Loyola friends frequent, but none of your Tulane friends. You go there for the first time and there’s a modern jukebox on your left and a working cigarette dispenser on your right. The Top 40 isn’t blaring in your ear, and nobody is staring at you like you’re prey as soon as you walk in. There are real tables and booths – like, ones you eat at, not ones that are covered with slabs of wood for dancing on. Your student ID gets you a discount on their menu some nights (and you almost exclusively get the best thing there: mac and cheese bites). The drinks are reasonably priced, and the bartenders aren’t throwing napkins around and acting cocky – they’re actually helping you out.

For once, you’re surrounded by college students in an environment that feels like a real bar. You, especially as a girl, feel safe from foreign hands grabbing you because of the openness of the bar. You can play pool all night, smoke on the balcony and drink a $5 bottle of wine with your friends. The eager crowds of The Boot and The Palms don’t trap you in anymore. You’re free to mingle and talk with your fellow students, play music on the jukebox, drink your beer (from a real glass) and watch your favorite sports teams on the televisions. You think to yourself: it the absence of Tulane students and the presence of more Loyola students that creates a more mature environment? Is it Bruno’s Tavern on its own that emulates this casual semi-adulthood? Is it a blissful synesthesia of both?

Whatever it is, the Loyola-ness of Bruno’s is undeniable. You’ll never go there without seeing some fellow students you know. You may even see some parents of students you know. It’s common knowledge that Tulane’s go-to bar for cathartic release is The Boot. But Loyola is a very different place and a very different community (no further commentary there), and for many students, the go-to bar seems to be Bruno’s Tavern.

We have found our niche, our quintessential college bar that represents our campus – and, purely speaking from opinion, we have the best one.