I remember the first time I¬†entered¬†the dark red bar of Silk City thinking it was like an opium den. (My experiences with opium dens being limited to reading¬† The Ruby in the Smoke as a pre-teen.) Silk City was a cave, with low ceilings and dark walls, the haze of smoke. This was back in the day, before the remodel, revamp, reboot. The diner was next door and you couldn’t get any food from it without leaving the bar. The bathrooms were tiny,¬†over-flowingly¬†unsanitary, with paper all over the floor, and lit far too harshly compared to the dance floor. You woke up the next morning stinking of smoke and spilt whiskey.
My memories of Silk City are hazy. It was one of the first bars I went to in Philadelphia, and nights there were spent learning to not care if people watched you dance and counting quarters to buy the next city wide. Oh the city wide. Bob & Barbara’s may have invented the City Wide Special (a can of PBR and a shot of Jim Beam for $3) but I became familiar with and greatly abused it at Silk City. There was also a $1 PBRs and $7 Long Island Ice Teas.
My roommate and I used to go to an event called Hang the DJ where you could sign up for a 15 minute block of time to work the turn tables (cd or vinyl) with either music you brought or a selection provided. There would be choreographed dance numbers, and meeting friends of friends of friends while dancing, learning to meet people in a strange city. Some nights the place was crowded far beyond safe occupancy, people shoving against each other, the floors slick with liquor. Other nights it was depressingly empty, feeling somehow smaller when devoid of partiers.
In addition to the stink of stale cigarette smoke, I will always associate Silk City with being burnt by drunk stranger’s inattention to their lit cigarettes. It is the bar of lost scarves, mittens, and hats, being the only bar I’ve ever lost winter items at, although I’m fairly confident several were purloined rather than misplaced.
After closing down and undergoing a remodel Silk City is still around – now with easy access to the restaurant and a new out door courtyard. The food is now homage to diner food, rather than greasy spoon, and the bar portion has been rearranged and no longer feels quite so seedy. Drinks are more expensive, the decor rearranged. I’ve been a couple of times but it’s not the same. But the Silk City of my youth lives on in my memories.
