A Night at Fifth Avenue Chad Jeffery
5th Avenue in downtown Royal Oak has been a staple of Royal Oak nightlife for quite some time. My experience took place a couple of weekends ago. I must warn you that my blood alcohol level was probably a little over the legal limit, so while I always claim to be fair and balanced in my reporting, in this particular case I might not be able to recall every detail throughout the night and some of those details might be left out purposefully.
It started very much like every Saturday when headed out on a spring night in Southeastern Michigan. Pre-drinking with some friends in order to save those extra dollars for the gas pump, playing some of those traditional drinking games such as beer-pong and corn-hole to get our energy levels flaring and catching up on the weekly gossip and those interesting work stories that we all get to repeat over and over again these days. To better describe my surroundings, I can tell you that our pre-drinking environment was at that guy’s house. You know the one I am talking about, the guy is in his late twenties, works for a reputable investment firm, but has three chairs, a stereo, a beer-pong table in his living room and bag boards set up on each side of the living room. He has a great sense of finance, but unfortunately can’t afford the $50 a week for that maid service!
Needless to say, we drank quite a bit before we went to the bar. Like usual, we planned on going around 10:00 PM, but didn’t get there until about 11:00. There was no line and a very reasonable $5 cover so in my opinion 5TH gets two stars just for that. If anyone who reads this doesn’t know, 5TH Avenue is a live music venue that specializes in local bands. On this particular night, 80’s Inc. was playing. It’s one of those bands that you probably wouldn’t listen to on the radio, but the more you drink, the better they sound.
Basically, we got there, we drank, we danced, and the couples went home early. Surprise, surprise! There was a good ratio of male to female at the venue and even though I was in rare form it was relatively easy to speak with people. I met a few women, some stayed to long and I had to hide, some left me to dance with another fellow they found more appealing and some avoided me completely, but all in all I would say it was definitely an entertaining evening. Now I didn’t meet the woman of my dreams, but as we all know how often does that happen?
Drinks are inexpensive and I think I only spent $50 or so on the night. I would say that’s quite cheap considering I was in Vegas last week at the Hard Rock Hotel and you couldn’t walk down the hallway without dropping $50. My biggest problem with the bar is that their really isn’t a lot of space upstairs and the dance floor is a little small, but if you start feeling claustrophobic, you can always walk back downstairs where there are a few less people and there is little more space.
Overall, I would say 5TH Avenue is great place to go out in Royal Oak. There are singles abound, it’s easy in and easy out and the music is just talented enough to make you shake your hips. Make sure you have a DD and from what I hear definitely check it out on Sunday sometime for the Killer Flamingos.