For as long as bartender Michelle Bell can remember, Wednesday night has been the night of choice for Wesleyan students to frequent The Gatekeeper, one of a handful of Middletown bars.
“The students are great,” Bell said. “It’s one big party. Everyone’s really polite and just out to have a good time.”
Bell has worked at the Gatekeeper for ten of the thirteen years it has been open. According to her, however, the tradition of Wesleyan students frequenting Middletown bars on Wednesday night dates back to before the Gatekeeper, when a different bar stood in its place.
The ritual of bar night begins early Wednesday evening when of-age students abandon thoughts of studying, and one question can be heard echoing throughout the halls of Olin or the Science Tower: “are you going to the bars tonight?” In reality, the “bars” generally mean a choice between the two or three Main St. establishments that actually stay open past ten o’clock. But most students will admit that despite the lack of choice, getting off campus one night a week to drink beer makes Wesleyan life feel a little more real; students love pretending that they are twenty-somethings barhopping in a real city, even if what they get is a slightly different experience.
On any other night the Gatekeeper will be host to a few Middletown regulars hunched over their pool cues or poking at the screen of a video-poker machine. But on Wednesdays, students shuffle in until the tiny interior is teeming. Inside, the décor is haphazard; the walls are stapled with memorabilia that owner Pete Lessor has collected from customers over the years. Pete, a gangly Vietnam Vet complete with long white hair and beard, prides himself on making his bar a comfortable place for all.
“Folks come here because I treat people like people,” Lessor said.
If the time is before 11:30 p.m., students might still have a clear path to the bar, and even claim an open vinyl barstool. Anytime after midnight, they must be prepared to push and elbow their way across the dimly lit room, apologizing for the spilled beer that they leave in their wake. Some faces are familiar, while some are not. Some are people they have only seen in this context, even though most of the bodies they rub up against are fellow students.
“We own eighty pitchers, but on Wednesday nights I’m usually hard-pressed to find one,” Bell said.
In addition to pitchers of beer, students line up to order owner Pete’s signature Gatekeeper shot.
“It’s a secret recipe made of seven different boozes,” Bell said. “Pete wouldn’t even tell me what was in it until a couple of years ago.”
Recently a new bar opened around the corner from the Gatekeeper. Featuring a curious name and free peanuts, the Hair of the Dog rapidly became another Wednesday night favorite for Wesleyan students. As at the Gatekeeper, students welcome the camaraderie that comes from squeezing as many people and as much beer as possible into the small space of this new establishment.
“I just like hanging out where my friends are,” said Andrew Brooker ’06 when asked why he chose to frequent the Hair of the Dog on Wednesday.
Back at the Gatekeeper, however, some students suggested that bar loyalties run a bit deeper.
“I like the atmosphere of this place so much that I want to bring my family here,” said Sara Covey ’06.
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