Nightlife

Nothing much has changed at Johnny’s Hideaway, the cougar bar buried in the strip mall homogeneity of Roswell Road. Not the disco ball or the parquet floor or the glamour shots of dead and dying celebrities. Divorcées in tight jeans and halter tops still troll the perimeter. The oldies soundtrack is the same, though founder Johnny Esposito, “Mr. Nightlife,” passed away in April at age seventy-nine. Chris Dauria, the son of Esposito’s partner Mike Dana, has run the place for years—still guarding the door with his entourage of big, bald bouncers, as if something valuable were inside. And maybe, in this age of disposable bars, there is.

It’s a slice of spring break in Midtown. With a nine-flavor daiquiri bar, live music downstairs, a DJ upstairs, a sprawling patio with real palm trees, and deliberately tacky decor, it couldn’t be more different from posh Opera across the street.

After three years of drawing ravers to grind in the gallery spaces of the King Plow Arts Center, Robert Shaw and Alan Sher have set up the permanent venue Terminal West in Studio C of the refurbished farm-equipment foundry. With high-grade sound and light systems built around a twenty-by-thirty-three-foot stage, wide concrete floors, three bars loaded with twenty-nine different canned craft beers, and a back patio facing the railroad tracks, the unce-unce dance party will be beating strong in Westside. But starting this summer, Shaw and Sher say music lovers of all ages and metronomic temperaments will find a reason to stop in. “The first few months have been electronic music; that was our network,” says Shaw. “But we’ve got reggae and bluegrass acts coming to use this amazing performance space. The goal is to diversify the audience.”

There’s a reason Lips Down on Dixie doesn’t hold its midnight screenings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Fox.

Former Atlantan RuPaul may 
be our national claim to drag queen fame, but locals give props to his 
compatriot, Charlie Brown—a performer in our gay scene for more than four decades.

Here are three superior spots for a little aviation observation.

As beverage director for Taco Mac’s parent company, Tappan Street Restaurant Group, Fred Crudder is responsible for what goes into the 1,900-plus beer taps at the chain’s twenty-four locations. He’s also the inspiration behind the Fred, an underground bar at the Prado location open to frequent drinkers in the

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