St. Patrick's Day Celebration Savannah, Ga Memories

The first time I realized that St. Patrick's Day was a big party celebration for adults, I was a year out of college.

I had taken job as a sports writer at the Savannah News-Press in Savannah, GA. The sports room was filled with young writers who spent almost as much effort – almost – spending their meager wages on cheap beer and pursuing girls as often as stories. I fell into it immediately.

After a couple of months, a buzz started circulating through our sports room (we were, wisely, separated from the rest of the paper's editorial staff. The best-looking reporter, a knockout in the State section, was clear to the other side of the building).

The buzz was about St. Patrick's Day. That was odd, I thought. Savannah did not have a big Irish community and nothing about the place that I could see indicated that this would be a big deal. But the discussion among the staff was which day to take off work – we could either have the night before St. Patrick's Day or the day itself.

I opted for the day itself. There's a parade, I was told, and River Street is flooded with revelers. The area in front of the best bar on River Street, Spanky's, gets so crowded it's elbow-to-elbow outside the place. Our cheap beer newspaper hangout bar, Pinky Master's, closes the night before at 3 a.m., and re-opens at 6. This, I had to see to believe!

And after seeing it well, I could hardly believe! I went to check out the parade, thinking it was some small affair, but it was huge. Tens of thousands of people lined the route. One of the first things I saw was our mayor stumbling around in the crowd. It was 11 in the morning.

I eventually made my way down to River Street and stopped dead in my tracks. I had never seen more people in one place in my life (not even at Neyland Stadium on University of Tennessee football Saturdays). I later learned that 300,000 people come into Savannah each year for St. Patrick's Day. They all seemed to be on River Street at that time.

I squirmed my way to Spanky's and could not get near the place. The entire area was like a block party, people cheering, laughing, swigging beers and coaxing others to do crazy antics. Savannah, you see, allows drinks on the street, just like New Orleans.

Everyone was yelling in the direction of Spanky's and I soon learned why. The managers were hanging out of a couple of second-story windows waving t-shirts and girls were baring their breasts to get one of those shirts. I later learned it's an unofficial tradition called "Tits for Tees." I immediately approved.

No sooner was I taking in this scene when some guys picked up a girl standing right next to me, lifted her up with their hands above their heads and began to pass her to the front. Along the way, the girl's shirt was removed and, much to my viewing pleasure and surprise, her jeans, as well. She was laughing the whole time, got to the front and flashed, earned her t-shirt and even managed to recover her jeans.

I was hooked.

And so it was that I learned St. Patrick's Day is a big deal, a huge party for adults. Now I'm living in Los Angeles, and one of the best places to party is just down the street in Hermosa Beach. There's even a parade, though it's nothing like the one in Svannah. And there are fun places at Irish bars all over L.A.

And there are some great places for St. Patrick's Day around the USA, as well, including Chicago, Boston and New York City.

Still, I've got to get back to Savannah.