It’s very tiny, I don’t know how you could fit a bar in there.
He should offer it up to Global Village for an expansion. Then maybe, just maybe, they might actually stay open past sunset for once!

Man, do I ever remember this place! When I came to NC State as a freshman in 1969, this is where I had my first beer as a college student (drinking age was 18 then). It was run by a scrappy fellow whom everybody knew as “Red.” He was of Irish heritage (and proud of it!). I believe he originally came from Brooklyn, NY. My Dad used to say “Red was passing through on a south-bound freight train, fell off in Raleigh, and never left!”

If I recall right, the place was called The College Grill. The space was dark, long and narrow with a bar + grill running down the right side, with booth seating tucked under the stairs on the left side. The storefront looked different then with a large plate glass window next to the front door. You could look right in and see the grill.

Red served the best greasy burger and Reuben sandwich on Hillsboro St., or at least I thought so anyway. I remember he seemed almost proud of the “B” sanitaion rating hanging over the grill.

Red didn’t put up with anybody’s guff…Once someone at our table ordered a glass of water (instead of beer), and Red plopped a glass on the table and barked “water’s back there,” motioning to the sink back by the men’s room.

Red retired in the mid to late ’70s and the College Grill closed. I’d see him around occasionally after that, though. He passed away sometime around 1990, I think. What a charachter…They don’t make ’em like that anymore!

It’s not nearly as small as some say – and is kept in good repair by Mitch. Having been in it many times during my years at Mitch’s I’ll say it would make an amazing bar, except for the factt there is already an amazing bar right above it.

I remember the College Grill some, but I remember Red a lot. After his bar closed he was a regular at the PR, a regular at the Rathskeller, and more importantly, a regular at Mitch’s. I can still hear his gravelly voice. I wouldn’t be surprised if Mitch holds that place for Red.

I have been told that he uses it as a business loss for tax purposes against Mitch’s Tavern. I believe he hold an active beer license for it.

David

Tended bar 3 nights a week for Red after coming back to school from the army until graduation in ’71. Red Campbell was from Brooklyn, lived alone with his cats down off of Dixie Trail and sadly, was an alcoholic.

With that said, he was a great and interesting guy who was a good friend to those he liked. Red’s had the best hamburger in town and was the only place then that you could get kraut on your hotdog, which besides mustard was the only thing you could get on your hotdog. Red did not suffer fools very well. Besides students, we got many interesting locals and many proffessors from accross the street. After closing we would clean up etc. then watch the late show and drink beer on the house. Sometimes we’d go down to the PR after closing as Red had worked for Bernie and remained good friends.

It was truly a unique little place. Used to go back occasionaly to say hey. Guess there’s no room for places like that anymore.

Good hamburgers, cheap.

We used to go to the Dixie Classics and loved the games. Remember when point shaving was such a scandal. Gambling was rumored but thought it was done somewhere else like New York. Wasn’t this when Frank McGuire was coach @ UNC & he was recruiting all those players from the New York area? I’ll bet my daddy, “Red” Doggett”, knew about Mitch’s Tavern (he’s not the Red involved in the gambling). My mother said all her life that she just couldn’t understand why “they” canceled the Dixie Classics. I’m glad to know where Mitch’s Tavern is and knew it was somewhere on Hillsboro Street.

Ahhh the Blue Tower, home of the delicious greasy breakfast and plate lunch. I ate there often when I worked at “Partime”, the quality temporary help service (a subsidiary of Snelling and Snelling), at 517 Hillsborough St. That building was demolished when the railroad bridge just E. of Glenwood was rebuilt.

Blue Tower was in the building (still existing) on the SW corner of Glenwood and Hillsborough Sts. Actually across from current Snoopy’s. It had only a lunch counter and swivel stools. “Smothered chicken” was always on the menu, lol.

I came to Raleigh in 1973 and was living on Douglas Street behind the Keg. I used to stop in Red’s for a Miller and a burger. If you recall, Red used to put a passel of pepper on the patties and when I asked him to skip the pepper, he threw me out with curses and various nasty words. Well, goodness me, I thought. I back a couple of weeks later, expecting some kind of grief, but Red said “How’re doing, what do you need.” I got another Miller and refrained from criticizing the food.

I don’t think it was Bill Friday who cancelled the Dixie Classics. If memory serves, it was done by Gov. Terry Sanford, who later became the top dog at Duke U.

Everyone who went to Red’s in the afternoon knew Mrs Covington who sat at the bar drinking her “tall boy” and smoking a Kent. She made her living typing papers for State students. Stay til after hours and Red would fire up a 78 rpm record player with his old records from when he claimed to earn his living signing in nite clubs in Brooklyn and Jersy. After a battle with throat cancer ended that career, he came south to work for Bernie at the PR.
When I first went there in ’69, Red didn’t seem happy to see students, but within a couple of months he warmed up to our crowd. Later I filled in behind the counter when his regular help didn’t show up . I was there on St Patrick’s day when the Mim’s brothers gave away free green hats and wide-mouth Mickeys. My job was to keep the occupancy under 100. I couldn’t do it. I was also there one night when Roman Gabriel came back from the Rams during a new Porsche. I drove it out on a newly finished section of the beltline.
It was not unusual to come in Sunday morning to clean up and find Red asleep on the wash stand. (Yes, we did wash the beer glasses occasionly)
Red did not drive, so at night after we closed the grill, I would take him to other bars to drink and sing with his friends who owned them.
Everyone who went to the College Grill should during a toast to Red Campbell. Make it a Bud in a deposit bottle.

I remember Red and the College Grill well indeed. I came to State in 1968 and lived in a boarding house just down the street at 2305 Hillsborough. I often stopped in for a beer after a night of studying in Hill Library. Red really knew how to hold court. He was a big fan of Al Jolson and claimed to have a fine collection of Jolson records.

Does anyone remember the The College Grill sign’s paint and neon colors?