Dragon *Con - The quotable Car Bar

Labor Day comes but once a year. Most of the U.S. enjoys the waning summer heat on a beach towel or tailgating with a cold brew in hand. In Atlanta, however, there is Dragon Con. For four days (Sept. 4-7), a deluge of nearly 60,000 cosplayers and Nerds (with a capital N) from around the globe transform Downtown into a veritable Sodom and Gomorrah for sci-fi, fantasy, and fan culture geeks and freaks. It’s a spectator sport: countless Slave Leia’s rub elbows with Sleestaks, steampunks, and various other characters from “Star Trek,” “Doctor Who,” “Firefly,” and more.

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For a small but dedicated crew of bar industry workers, Dragon Con is their weekend getaway and Car Bar their home base. Since 2006, Car Bar has served as a safe haven from the ever-growing mob scene chasing the Dragon. Car Bar is exactly what it sounds like: a car packed with a fully stocked bar, ready to serve, parked somewhere nearby. CL is duty-bound not to disclose the location. But if you’re in the know, you already know. As this year’s festivities draw near, a handful of Car Bar regulars sat down to share their favorite Car Bar philosophies and memories.

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“I bought my Honda Civic in 2006. That was the original Car Bar. Who came up with the name? I don’t remember. But it made so much sense. We had all been going to Dragon Con forever, and one of us just said: ‘Wait, why spend $8 for a Bud Light, when we can just get beers from the car?’ Tailgating is an American tradition, and it’s totally legal. We are on private property in the United States of America. As long as we don’t cause too much of a problem, we’re fine.” — Armando Celentano, Argosy

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“My car gets destroyed every year. One year I was with someone who had covered her entire body in fake blood as part of her costume. She sat in my car, and I had a pizza box to put under her. But there was still fake blood smeared all over the inside of the car. That same year, I also thought it was a good idea to put a keg of beer in the trunk. Beer spilled everywhere. So I was driving home the next day, and I realized I had this girl passed out in the car, there was fake blood everywhere, and the interior was soaked with beer. If I had been pulled over, there’s no way I was getting out of it.” — Murphy Ryan, the Bookhouse Pub

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“At Dragon Con, people don’t care about sports. They don’t care about politics. They don’t care about work, or school, or status, or race, or class, or anything other than enjoying being nerds. It started with me 18 years ago and showing up to see the Changelings play and then staying for an all-night drum circle. I really had no clue what I was walking into. I remember thinking I’d found my tribe. Instead of trying to get autographs from pop stars, people were lining up to meet Neil Gaiman and get fed to the worm at a GWAR show.” — Mike Johnson, the Bookhouse Pub

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“If all of the cons were colleges, Dragon Con would be the biggest party college. At Comic Con, for example, everybody goes to the convention, and then they have to leave and go somewhere else. At Dragon Con, you’re going to be at Trader Vic’s drinking with Chewbacca, literally. It’s ‘Nerdy Gras.’” — Murphy Ryan

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“You get called weird your entire life, and at Dragon Con you’re with all of these other people that have been called weird their entire lives. So now it’s like you’re among your people. Everybody feels comfortable. Everybody’s the same as you, so let’s get weird, and let’s get really drunk.” — Shannon Thrift, Car Bar convert since 2014

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“I think of Car Bar as the place we retreat to when we need to regroup. Someone always ends up finding someone there. It’s the lost and found for irrePoncible adults.” — Mike Johnson

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“There is no walk of shame at Dragon Con. You’re going to come out of some party at like 9:30 a.m., you’re wasted, and you have half a Wookie draped over your shoulder. You look at your watch and say to yourself, ‘We can still catch Shatner. Let’s do this!’ For those situations, we keep Car Bar stocked with Advil and Emergen-C, and band-aids, and Gold Bond medicated powder. Whatever you need to patch people up and get them back in the game.” — Murphy Ryan