North Street Notes

He who drinks, and drinks with grace,

Is ever welcome in this place.

But, he who drinks more than his share

Is never welcome anywhere.

These wise words were found on the entrance to one of Chapel Hill’s most venerable institutions - the Rams Head Rathskeller. When I was growing up in Chapel Hill, the Rat was the place to go.  Football weekends, the line would be out the door, up the stairs to Franklin Street, and down the block toward Columbia. 

The Rat was a special event place for our family.  Times without number we celebrated birthdays, graduations, game days, anniversaries, first dates. 

From the time I graduated and moved away, the ritual upon my return was always the same.  Drop my suitcases and walk the block and a half from North Street to the Rathskeller.  Didn’t matter what time of day I arrived.  The menu was the same for lunch or dinner, and the place stayed open throughout the day.  One bite of that “chewy, elongated, highly inedible half-pound rustled steer.  Slipped under the table to any bandit with a miserly amount of salad, a few mashed up fries and burnt bread.  Sorry, no credit on our top seller” and I could smile and say, “I’m home.”

December 2007, it all came to an end.  The Rat died.  Closed its doors.  Served up its last Gambler.  Wasn’t long after that the furnishings were sold at auction.  If you couldn’t afford something that big, for a pittance you could own a piece of history in the form of an authentic menu. 

For those of you interested in a more thorough history of the place, the following link is shared for your enjoyment. 

http://reesenews.org/2010/11/01/the-rathskeller-returns/416/

Over the past few years, Diane Fountain, a local developer has made efforts, accompanied by much fanfare,  to renovate and reopen the place.  She launched a website, created a facebook page and signed up on twitter.  She offered Rathskeller Memberships - with benefits - to help raise capital for the project.  From a Noble at merely $50 to an Emperor at $5,000 you could own Rathskeller swag, have your name immortalized in the new establishment, and enjoy preferential treatment when dining there.  I was almost ready to sign up.  Almost.

Depending upon who you talk to, those efforts have been thwarted by either the building owner, represented by Mary Stockwell, or the developer herself.  It seems the project has been put on hold indefinitely.  The developer confidently claims, “I will reopen The Rat!”  She does however admit it “might not be in the original location.”  My question is: If it’s not located in that hole in the wall at 157 1/2 Amber Alley, would it really be The Rat? 

(Those interested in the She Said - She Said dialogue between owner and developer can follow this link: www.chapelhillnews.com/2012/02/29/70312/rathskeller-renovation-off-again.html)

The last time I was in Chapel Hill there was little sign of progress or resolution. An architect’s floor plan, hung initially with a great deal of pride and anticipation I assume, covered one of the windows.  But, also visible through other windows were bare rooms, bare floors, and the litter typical of half completed construction projects. 

That sight left me in a somewhat contemplative mood.

There are generations of  us who want to go back to that dingy basement of a place with the limited, and far from healthy, menu.  Whether we are driven by nostalgia or some other force greater than ourselves does not matter.  We want The Rat back!

But, if the place, when it eventually opens, is substantially different, will we still want to go back?  If it stays true to its original nature, are there enough of us around to keep it in business?  Further, if it does not change, are there enough of the current generation of students who will be attracted to either the ambiance, or the menu, to make it work.

Perhaps the most articulate of all Tar Heels, the author Thomas Wolfe, spoke to this dilemma.

“You can’t go back home to your family, back home to your childhood, …back home to a young man’s dreams of glory and fame…back home to the old forms and systems of things which once seemed everlasting but which are changing all the time — back home to the escapes of Time and Memory.”

That thought, and those questions, bring to mind a brief interaction I had over lunch with an attorney from a small town in southern Oregon.  I asked him why he had returned to his home town of Medford after a highly successful career in Seattle.  My inquiry was not merely academic.  At that time I was seriously exploring ways to return to the Southern Part of Heaven.  His response was simple, yet profound.  “You have to ask yourself, ‘Are you going back to a memory, or forward to an opportunity?’”

That is a question Ms. Fountain would do well to contemplate.  For herself, for her investors, and for all of us who still long for a Double Gambler.