Another World at Lovejoys

Last shot.

Last call.

Lovejoys, the beloved bar that closed its doors in downtown Austin this past weekend, was a portal to another world in my younger days, as I clumsily opened up to the strangeness that I had been yearning for, but missing, as a child of rural middle America.  My upbringing did not really have space for, or awareness even, of the kind of grittiness and beauty found at Lovejoys, circa 1995.  In retrospect, it probably wasn't that gritty then.  But, I loved its dark and smoky coolness for exactly the reason that it was not a place I could have found at home.

In what was perhaps my first week in Austin, I spent an entire afternoon there, alone (that was new), drinking coffee (also new for me at the time), looking through want ads in the Chronicle with a folder full of résumés by my side.  The creamy sweetness of that coffee was so good, I had three cups, not realizing that I could get freaky high on caffeine.  My mom had been telling me that I had to go out and "hit the pavement" to find a job.  And, that was a very literal directive in my post-college experience.  So, with the boost of confidence from the coffee buzz, I set out from Lovejoys to deliver résumés and my innocent Midwestern smile to every $7 an hour job in the downtown area.  And, I'm quite sure I was back later that night to wash down all that pavement pounding with a pint.