by jon bosworth jaxvillain@yahoo.com
What does it take to make “Florida’s biggest small town” look less like the paragon of urban sprawl and more like a serious city? Having an impressive murder rate might be a start, and certainly making national headlines for sexual predators once per quarter makes “big city” impressions, but at EU, we were hoping for something a little more entertaining to cover. There are all sorts of venues in town trying to give local hicks a feeling of being in a happening city.
Club Paris is currently in its hay day, and I suppose that is a start for the people that wanted something cheesier than The Pearl without resorting to Arlington, but the big clubs don’t really make anyone think of larger cities. In fact, if anything, the larger the club, the more aware you become of how few people there are in it. Face it, Jacksonville is the kind of town where people prefer house parties. Drinking at home is cheaper and you get to be the DJ.
In addition to those arguments, when you really visit larger cities, it isn’t the Viper Rooms and CBGBs that impress you with the culture of the big city, it’s those little dives you stumble upon. A nook shoved up between two law firms, or buried in the bad neighborhood, but once you’re inside of that tight, hot room, you realize you feel right at home. The guy at the bar doesn’t look at you funny when you comment on the weather and the bartender is happy to strike up a conversation.
I find places like these in New York, Atlanta, and Los Angeles all the time, but it never dawned on me that the coolest part of a big city is finding that little watering hole where “everybody knows your name.” But when I walked into Shanty Town Pub in Springfield, I found just such a place.
When EU talked to Ian Ranne a couple of months ago about the expansion of his Hip Hop Hell nights around town, he teased us with the idea that he was going to open a pub in Springfield with his partner Marianne. The two both used to work at London Bridge in bartender, booking, and management capacities, so they certainly understand the basics of operating a pub, but to go into business for yourself is a risky leap. Especially in this fickle city with city officials that rarely to try to help the small local entrepreneur.
Shanty Town isn’t exactly what you would expect from one of Jacksonville’s hip-hop innovators, but when you really think about how Hip Hop Hell has made hip-hop in Jacksonville more about creativity and artistic integrity than racial boundaries, it makes sense that he and Marianne would create a place so inviting to all. Shanty Town Pub doesn’t have a lot of space, but the space they have they make the most of. With tables that hinge on the walls, they can be folded up to clear a floor space for a small show. Even the stage has hinged tabletops that can accommodate DJs with turntables, or be flipped up to make room for a full electric band. But the best space in the Shanty Town Pub isn’t even in the Shanty Town Pub, it’s in the backyard.
Featuring large fire enclosure, several picnic tables, and enough seats to accommodate an Ariel Tribe show, the spacious backyard is hedged in by fences and features some of the best graffiti art in town. At first glance, this artwork appears to be graffiti of the sort that might be gang-related if showcased on the side of a tenement home in Queens, but when photographs are taken of the work up-close, you can see the intense artistry involved in these pieces. And because graffiti art is undervalued (and Ian is an old friend to the graffiti scene) he gets work by Shaun Thurston, Oxygen, and others permanently displayed on his walls. But the graffiti art isn’t the only art, and don’t get the impression that Shanty Town is street or urban.
Bartenders Tex and Dylan are local punks and familiar faces, and the art on the walls is fantastic pop art by locals such as Jason Wright and Jimmy Pines. Other adornments on the walls include a singing deer head and bathroom walls wallpapered with humorous, captivating, and sometimes racy magazine pictures. If the $2 Guinness wasn’t enough to keep me visiting the bathroom, the adventures portrayed in the montages in the bathroom were.
To get to Shanty Town, go up Main Street, as though you were traveling from The Pearl (1st Street) to 9th and Main. When you get to 6th Street, turn left and Shanty Town is on your left. Don’t blink, because you’ll pass it, but when you do, look at the mural on the side of the building. Shaun Thurston’s baboon may scare or excite you. When you go inside, don’t ask for a domestic (although they secretly carry Sam Adams) because they pride themselves on carrying a terrific selection of imported beers. From great prices on Guinness to prices that make it worthwhile to try something new, you can get an Optimator on draft (be careful, the alcohol content on these is high) or a bottle of Sam Smith’s Oatmeal Stout. You name it, if they don’t have it, they’ll have something comparable.
Look for live acts, standup comedy nights, and other special events in the coming months as Shanty Town becomes the most spoken about small bar in our “big city.”
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