Bullet's Sports Bar owner looking to sell
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Bullet's Sports Bar is a classic New Orleans bar room. Photo: Rebecca Todd via neworleans.com
One of New Orleans' most beloved 7th Ward bars is on the market.
Why it matters: Bullet's Sports Bar has been a cornerstone of New Orleans drinking, second-lines and live music for three decades.
What he says: "This industry is gone," Rollins "Bullet" Garcia Sr. tells Axios New Orleans. "The young people don't want this."
- But, he says, "my son is mad because I promised him this place. But why would I give him something where I don't see a future?"
Zoom in: Garcia is looking to sell the business as well as the A.P. Tureaud Avenue building that's been its home since 2020.
The intrigue: The decision to sell, however, endangers another example of what New Orleans artist and photographer L. Kasimu Harris calls "Vanishing Black Bars."
- Harris first started documenting Black-owned bars in 2018, and his photography of the community, camaraderie and culture that New Orleans' editions offer has landed his work in museums around the country. He first wrote about it for The New York Times in 2020.
- "I think a lot of people are unaware and taking it for granted" how much these establishments mean to the city, Harris says. "These places are closing. … But it's not all lost."
Fun fact: Bullet's is one of the city's remaining bars where you can order a set-up — a classic Black bar order where the bartender gives you a cup of ice, a pint of liquor and a cup of your favorite mixer.
- That, too, is becoming less popular, Garcia says, but his back-bar is still stocked with hundreds of palm-sized bottles of tequila, vodka, whiskey and gin.
- The order's origin is hard to pin down, but it's a win-win for customers (who can easily pace their drinking) and bartenders (who don't have to pour drinks for the same person over and over).
A set-up, Harris says "says I'mma be here for while."
- "You order a set-up, you're truly lounging," Harris says.
The fact is, Garcia says, the neighborhood around Bullet's has changed a lot since he first got into business, which has made it harder to keep things going.
- Post-Katrina gentrification is a big part of that.
- "When I first got in, in this area here, we had a lot of customers that were craftsmen, carpenters, bricklayers, plasterers," Garcia says. Many of them have, over the years, been memorialized on a poster near the door that honors customers who have died.
What's next: There's no exact timeline for the sale as Garcia looks for a buyer, he says, who can do right by the business and the people who have supported it for so long.
- "You get to see these people more than your brothers and your sisters," he says. "I'm not just gonna walk out on my customers."