Sad news out of the world of wild Nashville nights and the old Nashville Broadway scene. Longtime institution, and haven of debauchery, Paradise Park, has announced that they will be closing their doors come July.
Courtesy of the Nashville Business Journal:
Strategic Hospitality, the restaurant group led by brothers Benjamin and Max Goldberg, will close downtown honky-tonk Paradise Park next month. Strategic — which, along with other investors, bought the 411 Broadway building Paradise Park calls home last year — plans to convert the entire 42,000-square-foot building into a new concept, slated to open in 2019.
The news release doesn’t offer many additional details about plans for the new concept, which will require a “yearlong remodel” to create. It will take advantage of the building’s rooftop, however, and include all three floors of the building.
Well, shit – if I’d have known it’d only take a cool 27 million dollars to own the Paradise Park, I might’ve bought it for SoBros HQ! What a deal!
But, in all seriousness, this just goes to show the power that the Music City has garnered as a destination town. The amazing part is that whatever it is that opens next Summer is probably going to make that money back before Christmas. It’s astonishing.
I know a lot of us are sad about this, and for good reason. Paradise Park is like a weird black hole on Broadway. You can go in and get some cold damn beer and tater tots for cheap. The astro turf on the floor and the old wood panel walls make it feel like you’re on the outskirts of town, far from the bachelorette parties and pedal taverns. But, it’s right in the heart of the Nashville hotspots – serving almost as a bridge between old and new Nashville.
I have a love/hate relationship with Paradise Park. On one hand, it’s too cramped for a man who is 6’1″ 280 and at least four feet wide. It’s sweaty as shit and the band is always entirely too loud. I’ve been in there sober on a couple of occasions and it caused my social anxiety to flare up. But, those are minor things.
On the other hand, it’s a Nashville institution. Virtually every fond memory I have of going downtown and doing the whole honky tonkin’ thing with friends ends with a burger and tater tots.
As Herbie Brooks put it, “always felt like going back to college for a night. Then you could top it all off with a greasy ass corn dog or hamburger.” He’s right – there’s something sort of timeless about the place. It’s sort of the last of its kind on Broadway.
I’ve pregamed for Titans games there because you could get a pitcher of Natty Light for FIVE DOLLARS. My favorite memory of that place is buying two pitchers for the table on my birthday one year. A buddy of mine and I go get the pitchers, walk back to the table, and we realize the entire party has left us. I get a text saying, “heading to the Wild Beaver,” but we’re sitting there stuck with two pitchers. So, what do we do? We chug the damn pitchers! I stood in the middle of the dance floor and chugged an entire pitcher of beer.
Where else am I going to be able to do that now?
My girlfriend is from New Jersey – her friends came to town, and that was one of the FIRST places we took them! I mean, yeah – one, it was midnight. Where else can you take friends past midnight? But, two – yeah! All that about it being a Nashville institution and chili cheese fries and stuff. This is a sad day, period.
I blame Clay Travis.
If you see or hear from Poppa Bear today, please console him. Just don’t remind him about the time he was forced to buy a t-shirt or get prison shanked in the bathroom there. Despite however entertaining it was to see the bouncer throw him out, that was not a good time.
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD and #BeBetter. “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Alabama Crimson Tide football, the WWE, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley
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