This place powered half my Instagram grid in 2013. Photos: Madalyn Mendoza/Axios
👋 Hey, it's Madalyn with a send-off for Pat O'Brien's.
Zoom in: My friends and I stopped by on the bar's final day, Aug. 31. The bar was part of the downtown scene for 20 years.
Though my friends and I didn't know each other in our heyday of Hurricanes, our memories sounded identical: hours of dancing in the sweltering upstairs bars during Pub Runs, braving that steep staircase and somehow downing those syrupy red drinks.
And we agreed, good ol' Pat O's was a rite of passage in our early adulthood.
Between the lines: In a statement, management cited post-COVID setbacks, ongoing Alamo construction, shaky tourism and rising costs as the reasons for closing the only Texas location.
Two remain in New Orleans, where Pat O's was founded, and another in Orlando.
What's next: It's unclear what will become of the space, but the memories will stick around — the kind of chaotic college stories anyone who came of age here will only half admit to.
