The stench, the dirt, the drunken guy running into me as he makes his way towards the bar. Ah… the memories I carry with me of that heavenly hole that was Will’s Pub. Now torn down to make way for the “new and improved” Mills Avenue, I’m left with nothing more than those memories. And of course a giant empty plot of land.
I used to go to Will’s almost once a week. Sometimes for a show, other times just to watch as people drank themselves into oblivion. Will’s wasn’t a place for the faint of heart. On its best days it reeked of the projectile efforts of its patrons, and on its worst it was pretty much the same. The bar was always a little too crowded and the back room felt like a freezer box, but it was home. Home to me and hundreds of others like me who were looking for a place a little off center.
And that is what Will’s was; A haven for the lost, a home for those that belonged no where else. Men in drag, trailer trash, skaters, mods, indie kids… You name it, we were there. Making a niche in this city of oversized mice and talking ducks. Will’s was our distraction from the touristy doldrums of everyday life in Orlando. A place where natives could call their own and feel comfortable.
But on the horizon, a small hope. Will’s Pub is being reopened in a new location. Just a few blocks from the empty dirt lot where it used to stand, a new whole in the wall is being erected. But new is not a word I like to use with Will’s. May this Will’s be as grimy and gross as the old. May it’s patrons shock you with their banter and outlandish attitudes. And may it once again bring a community often overlooked back together. Here’s to Will’s! Now pass me the Blue Moon…
