Local Bar: Bending Time for the Drinking Kind

This is a guest post from Sean Ingram. Sean can make pun out of anything, and thrives on making people smile. Put a glass of Jameson in his hand and he’ll unleash his inner geek. Sean loves music, people, cooking and happy hours. Also, happy hours whilst listening to music and cooking with people.

Having spent 4 years in Athens as an undergrad at Ohio University I know what it’s like to live in an area surrounded by nothing but bars. The same could be said about the Short North – a endless sea of bars stretching from the end of downtown up to the beginning of OSU’s south campus catering to beer enthusiasts, cocktailers and winos alike. Is there really room for another bar on the tab? For this one, yes.

Local Bar is a breath of fresh air in the Short North. Taking over the building where Kickstart coffee used to be, its location may be easy to miss when walking down High Street. Step inside and you’ll be overwhelmed with the delicious aroma of a hot oil popcorn machine. As you follow your nose to discover that the popcorn is free you notice something else eccentric: a pair of hair dryer chairs side by side (you know, those chairs with the helmets on them that are used to dry your hair after a perm).

As you explore more of the bar you’ll realize you may have stepped into a time portal to the 1970’s (the “perm” thing starts to make sense.) A nostalgic arrangement of retro odds and ends hang from a shelf above a pinball machine, a vintage Ms. Pacman arcade game, and a conveniently placed egg chair with decorative pillows and cushions. The bar itself wraps from the entrance along the back wall forming a large rectangular centerpiece. Following the bar, off in the far right corner you will find a nook containing a set of large comfy retro couches surrounding a glass oval coffee table housing old magazines, local flyers, and coasters. The walls are decked out with bubble shaped mirrors and a shaggy carpet that is nothing short of groovy!

There are no drink menus (yet) to describe a wall full of beer taps surrounded by shelves of liquor spirits. While currently serving up a few dozen different beers, Local Bar plans to expand to 75 drafts – more than nearby beer bar Bodega, and not to mention, a happy hour lasting til 9pm, with $1 off drafts, $2 domestic bottles, $3 import bottles, $2 Pinnacle drinks and $4 Stoli drinks. The staff is extremely friendly and the wait time for your drink is more than acceptable. The atmosphere brings an outrageously fun experience when you want a break from all the normal hoopla and overcrowdings of all the other Short North bars. A bar that was clearly not designed to be swanky, but instead created with a fun and relaxing nostalgic intent.

It’s the drinks, the prices, and the people that make a bar worth going to. This place has all of that plus a dash of 70’s theme giving you one hell of a concoction. I’m now a proud local at Local Bar.

Local Bar is located at 913 N. High Street.

Photos from Local Bar’s Facebook page: