Monday, February 25, 2013

Sightsee Jacksonville: A Nightclub and A Museum

No, I'm not talking about two different places. I'm talking about one. One local business that is both a nightclub AND a museum.

Not kidding.


(Anyone else sad they missed the guest bartender competition? Me neither.)

Now, I do have a confession....I've been inside. When you work out in town and get to know the locals you tend to visit the local places. So there I was having dinner with some fellow co-workers at Logan's, a restaurant I have only been to with co-workers (and once for a squadron function). We wanted to keep hanging out and needed a new place to go. I imagined we'd go to someone's house or apartment. Then someone mentioned Sywanyk's (pronounced swan-icks). I did NOT want to go, but someone mentioned a dress code and a cover charge and I figured, "Well it can't be that bad if they have a dress code and a cover charge." Famous last words. 

So we head on over. Pay the cover charge. They almost don't let Kristen in because her polo shirt/v-neck could be considered too revealing. Standards. OK. We're not doing too bad. It's also on the early side, so it's not crowded yet. 

People, the inside of this place is definitely museum worthy. Anyone married to a military man probably has a room in their house for their husbands junk military memorabilia. (Or at least your husband wishes you did.) This is the "me room" times infinity. Floor to ceiling and across the ceiling patches, pictures, articles, covers, coins. You name it, they have it. The bar is lined with military coins. The ceiling is covered in patches. Flags, t-shirts, caps...oh my! 

We spend our time looking down on the dance floor, which has about 5 people on it. Two couples and 1 guy who thinks he's auditioning for "So You Think You Can Dance". He's even using glow sticks. Yup, you read that right. We notice that though they almost didn't allow a member of our group to go in because she was wearing jeans and a "could be revealing" polo shirt, they exercise the dress code much more loosely on their other guests. Yes, these women were not showing cleavage and their bottoms were not hanging out of their dresses, but I'm pretty sure every millimeter of skin that could be showing above and below those areas was exposed. Besides two other groups of people, we were it. Oh, and the four or five people enjoying the buffet to the right of the D.J. I think I lasted 30 minutes before it started to get crowded and I went down to find my car stuck in the parking lot. It took almost that long to back up/pull in enough times to get my car out. 

So, if you are ever driving down Henderson and pass the "Nightclub and Museum", there you have it. Only in Jacksonville would someone combine the experience of a military museum with the fun (?) of a nightclub. You can even enjoy it for yourself, just make sure you're covered up. 

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