Last night, as I drove to Roosevelt’s 21st, I had no idea what to expect. If you’d ever been to Our Beerbelly’s before it shut down, you probably understand my confusion. When I heard that the owner’s of Drinky’s in Easton had purchased the dive bar with plans to remodel, my first thought was that the Northside of Bethlehem didn’t need a swanky night club like Drinky’s. Beerbelly’s was popular among Moravian students and locals for it’s cheep beer, wings, and popular trivia night. In it’s heyday, you had to come at least an hour early to get a table.

But, as I turned onto Elizabeth Ave I saw large crowds of people walking towards the newly opened bar and knew that I was probably wrong. Wrong both in the local reception and with what I saw as I walked in. Roosevelt’s isn’t a nightclub, though it has nightclub elements, it’s almost a hybrid of sorts. Imagine if your local neighborhood bar got an ultralounge pregnant (bad analogy, I know)…Roosevelt’s would be their bastard offspring. The tastefully decorated interior is in stark contrast to their reasonable drink prices and nightly specials. A chalk board hung on the wall lists everyday drink specials, happy hour specials from 10-12 (finally! a real happy hour!), and food specials every day.

Mostly Moravian students, the crowd could be heard from outside the building singing along with the music. Word of mouth alone drew a crowd of at least 200 people. Tables had to be cleared away to make room for dancing and both bars had sizeable crowds waiting for drinks. I left Roosevelt’s last night impressed and very excited to see how this new bar would affect the Lehigh Valley’s nightlife. Like I said last night on the LV Scene twitter lastnight…lookout PigPen.