Saturn Bar – New Orleans

“O’Neil Broyard, its late original proprietor, made the Saturn Bar a St. Claude Avenue landmark as much for its eccentricities as for its cold beer and cheap liquor. For more than 40 years, his singular taste and hoarders’ zeal filled the corner tavern with quirky odds and ends, including leopard-print velour booths, neon signs from bygone businesses and a vast collection of strange art, such as the dark and compelling paintings of bar regular Michael Frolich, full of red skies, spidery trees and leering demons.

After Broyard’s death in 2005, his nephew excavated the bar’s junk pile, keeping the odd charm (the art still hangs, a mural of the planet Saturn still graces the ceiling, the springs in the leopard banquettes are still broken and a friendly cat still strolls between glasses and bottles on the bar), but freeing up the back room for live music.

Most weekend nights and weekday Satur Bar hosts an eclectic roster of local and touring acts, from the sea-shanty singing Valparaiso Mens’ Chorus to blues, garage, punk and metal. It also is the new home of the wildly popular all-45-RPM vinyl Mod Dance Party DJ night, which keeps the dancefloor twisting and shimmying ’til sunrise one Saturday a month.”