aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Georgia’s New Years Eve Blues
ATLANTA - The Halo lounge is a vision of Space Age chic, with midcentury-modern lounge chairs, a 40-foot bar made of white onyx, and a custom sound system thumping sinuous dance music.
It’s the kind of “stimulating” nightspot city officials describe in Atlanta’s latest marketing campaign, the one with the slogan “Every day is an opening day.”
But this New Year’s Eve, the Halo will be closed for business - because New Year’s Eve falls on a Sunday, and Georgia law dictates that bars cannot serve alcohol on Sundays.
Space Age, meet Bible Belt.
It’s not so bad as it sounds. In Atlanta - and my town - restaurants, hotels and bars with special permits can serve alcohol. The laws are an anachronism; even here.
