Cool People are at Cool Places

Hostels are also a great way to find where the cool is in a city. Here in Charleston, SC, the hipster staff put together a guide with their favorite picks. They revealed the funky vegetarian restaurants or best place to hear live music at an out of the way venue.

The alley entrance at Gilroy's

From their recommendations, my roommates and I frequented a bar that doesn't have a sign to advertise it. In lieu of an address, they gave us these instructions: walk down King St, turn right at Gilroy's Pizza, walk halfway down the alley, then up the stairs by the trash can. Guess what? There still wasn't a sign upstairs. We just opened the door and hoped we weren't walking in on something private.

There at the Upper Deck Tavern, the music was indie, the patrons were tattooed, and the cheap drinks were strong. On a Sunday night when every bar we past on the main street was empty, this bar bursted with drunk people accompanying the karaoke singers.

Two dudes with long hair and bandanas like Axel Rose sang a Flogging Molly song. A group of girls in Buddy Holly glasses lead the crowd in a rowdy Yeah Yeah Yeah's hit. The song lyrics were not only on a prompter for the singer, but the words were also projected behind the singer on a huge screen so that everyone else in the bar could sing along. A group of people danced to the songs, and others hooted acknowledgment. One of the guys at our table grabbed my hand and pulled me to dance floor for some country song. He danced the Texas swing really well!

With one of the guys who shared our table, my roommates and I ended up singing Living on a Prayer since my German roommate is such a huge fan of Bon Jovi. Of course, that song is a crowd favorite, so I  really didn't have to worry about anyone hearing my voice over the noise of the crowd singing along. Mission accomplished.

After singing, we played Jenga. When I went to grab the game for the table, I saw a hot guy dressed like a beatnik. He was all by himself, so I said, "Hey, you look lonely. Want to play Jenga with us?" He did.

This bar has it's own edition of the game. Each time we pulled a Jenga piece from the tower, we read the instructions that had been written in marker. We might have to buy the hottest guy at the bar a drink, or tickle the person to the left, or yell "Cunt licker!" 

At 2am, the bar closed and all of the coolest, hippest kids in town were kicked out to the street. Like a steady stream of clowns coming out of a car at the circus, we poured out of that tiny dive bar to fill the street outside. How had we all fit in there?

Had we not taken the advice of the staff at the hostel, we would've missed the biggest karaoke party in Charleston while sitting at an empty bar wondering, "Where is everybody?"