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Boni’s v. Bonny’s

Last night after a game of trivia at the Whirlaway, I ventured back to the bar formerly known as Boni’s. The space was exactly the same; it looks like maybe they amped up the red lights and made it darker, but the tables, chairs and bar are all untouched. They pulled out the internet jukebox and put in a photo booth. The chopped up anti-drug bathroom door was now full size and lockable. Minor changes, all. Except the clientele. The bar is now called Bonny’s and when I was there around 11 pm, the crowd was 95% white hipster. This is a radical change.

Honestly, I don’t know what to think. This isn’t going to be one of those “I liked old Boni’s, why’d they have to kill it” posts. I didn’t like the old Boni’s. That place had nothing going for it. It was dingy, the beer wasn’t cheap, wasn’t good, and wasn’t served quickly. Someone threatened to stab me the first night I was there. 4 AM bars are for meeting people. No one my age ever went to Boni’s. It was a last resort on a Tuesday when going home or taking a cab weren’t options. To see the new Bonny’s so packed with my peers and not one regular patron was shocking. The bar had a completely different feel. And I’m not so sure about it.

When I first started going to the Two Way Lounge, it was rough. There were pockets of hipsters, but for the most part, it was an older, drunker crowd. I saw someone knifed there. I saw fights, police, ambulances. The bar slowly shifted, with more hipsters replacing the regulars until Thursday-Sunday at the Two Way became unapproachable; there were just too many kids. The bartenders all quit or were fired, the prices raised (slightly). The Two Way changed, and I stopped going. The bar doesn’t feel the same. It’s calmer; it doesn’t have the spice of life. Boni’s will never experience this. Boni’s will never fade. It’s over; it’s new. It never got “uncool” because it never was cool.

I’m cautiously excited. The idea of a walkable, cheap 4 AM bar so close to home is intriguing to say the least. One that I won’t get stabbed at is even better. But the idea of the displacement of the bar’s old customers is somewhat worrying. Will this create an influx of douche to Logan? I don’t know. I can tell you this though. I will be drunk at Bonny’s tonight around 2.

Wait for people to start saying “I miss the old Boni’s”. I’m pretty sure I don’t.