The Sad State of The Gin

Some call it the best bar in the history of Oxford.

and I’ll concur.

which is why it’s a damn shame (pardon my French) cause it’s been so neglected these days.

So neglected, we felt inclined to share it’s sad state with everybody…

We should pool some cash together and buy this landmark… Or, alternatively, we should convince the Mayor to designate this a historical building, and save it from the wrecking ball.

Too many history inside those walls..

photo credit: Derek Moreton (mucho props)

If you’ve got Gin stories you’d like to share, we’d love to hear ‘em.. feel free to drop them in the comment section..

[click a photo to begin the photo stream]

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26 Comments

  1. early 90′s + Tyrone + Dancing on tables = me

  2. What about artists studios in the Gin? It could be a tourist attraction and a desparately needed place for artists to make work….

  3. I like your thinking Lou..

  4. *The Bouffants
    *OJ Ekemode and the Nigerian All-Stars
    *End-Of-The-School-Year Party for all us Channel 12 Newswatch/Rebel Radio folks
    *Hanging out on the front porch of the Hoka and watching drunk frat boy fights spill out of the Gin and into the parking lot.
    *My first legal beer on June 4, 19*mumble* at midnight when I officially turned 21 (never mind I had plenty of illegal ones there before). Thank God it was a Friday night/Saturday morning and the bar was open til one!

  5. Jerry Jeff Walker, Willis Alan Ramsey and Cold Beer (The Band)…Doxie…The night the power lines were cut.

  6. Bid Day- underage drinking on the back patio with boiled crawfish & David Kinkaid. Happy Hour. Super T, Metal Rose, an unknown Phish played to a crowd of about 3 people in the late 80′s, didn’t David Allen Coe play there, too?

  7. My first-ever martini was at the Gin–a vodka martina straight up. I survived the experience, but apparently THE GIN has not.

    Wouldn’t it be great if the City of Oxford acquired the place and let artists and others have low-cost space and made it a BUSINESS INCUBATOR.

    Then as these people became more established they could move out to the over-priced retail space available to people who already have more money than (at least) the Pope!

    But someone should save this place and the most wonderful patio and outdoor kitchen that has fallen into such a sorry state.

    Shouldn’t the MAYOR and CHAMBER OF COMMERCE be concerned about this eye sore that happens to be a real source of danger–as in do you remember the fire that wiped out the Warehouse?

  8. My first-ever martini was at the Gin–a vodka martina straight up. I survived the experience, but apparently THE GIN has not.

    Wouldn’t it be great if the City of Oxford acquired the place and let artists and others have low-cost space and made it a BUSINESS INCUBATOR.

    Then as these people became more established they could move out to the over-priced retail space available to people who already have more money than (at least) the Pope!

    But someone should save this place and the most wonderful patio and outdoor kitchen that has fallen into such a sorry state.

    Shouldn’t the MAYOR and CHAMBER OF COMMERCE be concerned about this eye sore that happens to be a real source of danger–as in do you remember the fire that wiped out the Warehouse?

  9. Man, that just made me sick! Bid Day, penny pitchers, and many other memories that I just can’t remember b/c of the first two.

    Is it for sale? If so, how much?

  10. SO SAD!!!!!!!!!!!! Looks like Derek risked his life taking those photos. That is the best patio Oxford has even seen. (Unless there is a new place since I left. And of course that doesn’t include balconies…..) SAVE THE GIN!

  11. Too many good memories for all… I can’t imagine that it is too far gone to save. Who owns it today? What is it valued at on the tax rolls – let’s buy it…

  12. We have a facebook group dedicated to the Gin… I can’t believe how bad they’ve let it get…

    http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2264376828

  13. what about ‘David & David”, anyone remember them?

  14. The Gin is on fire! My friend just sent me a picture and the Gin is completely destroyed. Unfortunately it closed the summer that I moved to Oxford.

  15. RIP GIN, you just burnt to the ground…..seems like arson to me..?

  16. i was having lunch at THE GIN with my friend clay hathorn who wrote for the commercial appeal one day in the mid-late 80′s when barry hannah (still drinking back then) came over to our table blottoed at high noon. you boys mind if i sit down? and before we could answer he sat down. i just sent a book to my publisher. we congratulated him. you want to know how to write a book, he said. give me a piece of paper. i handed him a napkin. he drew a line across it. on one side you write down everything good. and he proceeded writing the words ‘everything good’. on the other side you write everything bad. and he wrote the words ‘everything bad’. right there, that’s your book. my friend clay said, you mean everything good and everything bad in your book? no, no, no, barry said waving his arms around for emphasis. everything good and everything bad IN YOUR LIFE! that is your book. ’twas a meaningful exchange i fondly remember. r.i.p. barry, and may the most poetic of all the gods continue to smile upon you, removed though you are from our midst.

    • great story Gary..thanks for sharing..

  17. and r.i.p. to the gin. for you to fall into disarray is indeed a terrible fate.

  18. I played music there in 1975 with a group called Cold Beer, which consisted of Jimmy Phillips, Emmette Moore, John Gohr, and myself. We were the first live music when the Gin opened and worked as the defacto house band there for a year. We played Jerry Jeff Walker, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, etc. and some bluegrass too. So many years ago… Sorry to see it’s gone.

  19. Better Than Ezra and Big Ass Truck…Lines were so long at the bathroom we puked under the tables

  20. I guess Cafe Ole is gone too?

    • yeah.. unfortunately gone.. proud larrys is still around, though..

  21. I worked at the Gin during college 1978-1980 and liked the work. Met great people who worked with me and those that came in the door. The Hoka Theatre was right across the street and so Barton came in alot to visit! Who didn’t love Barton. And Ron Shapiro too! What a time that was. I loved it!.

  22. I remember walking from the Gin, to the Warehouse, walking past and saying hey to the guys at the Ice House that was in between…….parking spots were like gold, the music was live at both places……You had to get there early, or you’d find they had run out of the plastic beer pitchers…..at 2 bucks in 1980….they ran out fast…..
    Tough going back now and knowing neither is there…..what a great couple of places they would be to go to now……..all the new…..and still have the best of the old…
    a real shame….

  23. Im a musician, I played there in the early 80′s. I had a house full of Ole Miss Football Players filling the house, and it was a Big House! I did a few songs and played one more and said it was my last song before Sonny Terry and Brownie Mcghee came on, I got called back with an encore after what was to be my last, but I played My Version of Mr Bojangles and when I talked the last line of the song, “Ya Know Mista Its really sad how them old dogs like Spot dont get to live so long…but they die so Old… I hit the last chord and held it, I had tears in My Eyes, and you could have heard a pin drop in the Gin..I got up from my Stool and started off the Stage, when one person started clapping and the house lights came up, It turned into a 3 minute Standing ovation from Old Miss’s football team, and there was not a dry eye in the place, When Sonny and Brownies Manager grabbed my arm and said..Why would you do a song like that when My Guys have to come on after you!! I told him The Crowd was perfect for the song, and you are not paying me…the Club pays me because the People came here to Hear music, and I gave them everything I had to give, and don’t do Bojangles very much since, Just no good audiences like that these days!! Thank You to the Ole Miss Football team ! You made a great impression on me that night!!! I sure miss those days!!!

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