Iowa City, a place where on any given weekend night, the bars will be packed to capacity with kids below the legal drinking age. Yes, you read that right. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the laws that govern Iowa City, individuals of any age are allowed to be in a bar until 10 p.m. After 10 p.m., you must be 21 years old. This means that many underage students looking for a good time will be in the bars between the hours of 8 and 10 p.m. Many places downtown are notorious for being “freshman bars,” or places that first year students frequent the most. I decided to put this to the test by going downtown on a Saturday night at 10 p.m. on the dot and asking people what their favorite bars are. Since I wanted as many people represented as possible, I also posted a survey on the freshman class Facebook page. Here is what I found.
Union: 25%
25% of freshmen surveyed said that Union was their favorite bar, saying things like “I have never felt unsafe there,” and “It’s kind of a maze with so many rooms that you never knew about. It’s also really fun when they’re not that busy to play darts in the front.”
Brothers: 17%
Coming in 2nd place with 17% of the votes, Brothers has a “great outside area” and is good for “just chilling with friends”.
SpoCo: 9%
Formally known as Sports Column, people recommend it for birthday celebrations and “when you’re looking to see someone you know.”
Summit: 7%
With The Jungal upstairs and a sports bar vibe downstairs, “Summit is the place you say you hate but secretly love.”
Bo James: 3%
According to one person, who claimed to be a 21 year old freshman (I’m not here to ask questions), Bo James is the place to go for “the stiffest drinks in town.”
Studio 13: 3%
Known as “Iowa’s 19+ nightclub,” Studio 13 puts on amateur drag races most nights of the week and is a great place to go if you’re looking for something different than the others but still a great time.
Airliner: 1.9%
Not just a great restaurant to get pizza, Airliner is a fantastic place to watch sports games and for different organizations to rent out the upstairs.
Eden, Dublin Underground, Pints, DCs, Mondos: each >1%
Although the people that mentioned these places were pretty adamant about them being the best, they all came in with less than 1% of votes. That’s not to say that they’re not busy or won’t become popular in the near future. One person said, “Eden is going to be the new place to be, trust me.”
As you can see, not one bar is necessarily the favorite of every single freshman. Everyone has unique tastes and preferences, and it’s hard to categorize one place as the “freshman bar.” One thing is pretty clear though: no matter where you choose to spend your night in Iowa City, you won’t be disappointed.