FTFA: For around $100 per year, men and women 21 and older can join the Elks. The only requirements: American citizenship, a belief in God and sponsorship of an existing club member.

Ah, no thanks.

So hipsters wanting to join fraternities is somehow supposed to be unusual?

The VFW is the place where a lot of people my age (mid-30s) go to drink around here.

My brother belongs to both the VFW and the Elks. (Though, he's not a Vet, he gets in through our dad being a veteran.) The drinks are cheap and as long as you don't mind a lot of old veterans with outdated opinions about society, you might enjoy it.

Though, as a socialist and pacifist, it's not my kind of place. The Elks is a little better. I generally only go to those places when I'm out with my brother, as his designated driver..

/CSB

Oh god.. yeah.. old news.

The WW2 Veterans Association Club in Northampton MA is now affectionately known as "The Deuce" by the throngs of hipsters that funnel in and out of that place on a regular basis.

Link

robmilmel: shivashakti: Though, as a socialist and pacifist, it's not my kind of place.

I was a Moose for years-their motto should have been There's No Alcoholism Like Organized Alcoholism.

I guess I should be a Moose. Do they have fancy hats?

hubiestubert

OddFellows, Elks, and the rest, allow their members to book their facilities, and the club staffs the bar, which means that members can book their own bands, with club beer. The club gets the proceeds from the bar, and a piece of the door. It's cheap performance space, and cheap beer.

Duh

My band's playing at the Moose Lodge this weekend,I joined right after they asked us to play there the 1st time.I've already made back my membership fee in the money I've saved on cheap drinks :D
They like our original stuff & don't biatch about the volume.

hubiestubert: So, Seattle really is behind the East Coast by about five years...

OddFellows, Elks, and the rest, allow their members to book their facilities, and the club staffs the bar, which means that members can book their own bands, with club beer. The club gets the proceeds from the bar, and a piece of the door. It's cheap performance space, and cheap beer.

Duh.

I guess the Midwest is ahead of both coasts since this has always been the case here in flyover country.

This is funny. Around Christmas was helping with distributing food at an Elks Lodge. Guy told me they have a nice pool, dirt cheap meals and nights where everybody gets together for fun. Sounded good, but the dues were over $200 a year. Thought I wouldn't use it enough to pay for the fee. I'm pretty sure the place smells like old people. Nice guys, though.

Family has been elks for generations. It's a decent place to live, but the belief in God is a deal breaker for me.

Even better group

OK, once and for all, can someone please clarify what a 'hipster' is?

I would like junior league meetings better if the booze was cheap (or good).

on the other hand, next year my job is to give out money to people who need it.

/no not you.

$5.50 martinis.......believe in god.......shiat.
/what kind of vodka are we talking about here?

Brainwash: OK, once and for all, can someone please clarify what a 'hipster' is?

Seriously good info:

Wiki

Also, a funny quirk is that most hipsters will deny they are themselves a hipster.

I even know one, who after growing a very ironic handlebar mustache honestly fails to understand "what could possibly be ironic about a mustache."

I submit that this fact makes his mustache even that much more ironic.

In my area the Elks, VFW, etc. are used by folks who want cheap drinks and low buy in Texas Hold 'em tournaments. This has been changing as other venues are opening up to legalied gambling, Ive been a few times and they aren't bad, nothing wrong with it at all.

An Elks Lodge and a dive bar are pretty much the same thing in my limited experience.

It was good until the "a belief in God bit" ....

Are they affiliated with a religious group or is it just a throw-back to a more naive time when your character was judged by where you were on Sunday mornings?

onestr8: hubiestubert: So, Seattle really is behind the East Coast by about five years...

OddFellows, Elks, and the rest, allow their members to book their facilities, and the club staffs the bar, which means that members can book their own bands, with club beer. The club gets the proceeds from the bar, and a piece of the door. It's cheap performance space, and cheap beer.

Duh.

I guess the Midwest is ahead of both coasts since this has always been the case here in flyover country.

I've always understood that only drunks and kids go into those places unless it's for some event. Never heard of a hall of any of these varieties as being resorts with pools and stuff.

Me and the Mrs hit the Speedway VFW just about every Saturday night...

Jack Love (his real name...too cool) karaoke'n to Engleburt Humperdinkle, old wemens doing the electric slide with their walkers, with dresses so sheer you can see the lines of their Depends....



/$2.50 bottle beer..$2.75 mixed drinks.
//always wanted to post that.

ozzie_stu: It was good until the "a belief in God bit" ....

Are they affiliated with a religious group or is it just a throw-back to a more naive time when your character was judged by where you were on Sunday mornings?

Just like the Masons, it is more of the latter. Apparently the only requirement is belief in a god but I imagine the lodges in the South would not be very inclined to welcome Mormons or Muslims.

$100 a year for a gym? I'd join.

Nothing like hanging out with a bunch of career alcoholics in a dark, smelly room.

Douchebags.

"Do you believe in god?"

"PBRs for $1.50 each? Uh... sure!"

My wife and I are Moose members in our 30's. We live in a small college town and it is about the only place to go hang out if you are over 25. Cheap ass drinks, cheap food, basically a good dive bar. Great potlucks, themed parties as well as major holiday parties. Since it is a private club and gambling is legal in this state which means poker nights, blackjack nights, bingo and slot machines. and your vices just add to the coffers for all of the charity work they do. They don't require you believe in God per say, just a higher power. I chose to believe in mother nature and that was good enough for them. Oh and they state you can't be a terrorist currently or in the past (seriously it says so on the application.). Our lodge doesn't have any hipsters because there arn't any in this town except for the college kids. But I can't wait to go back home and check out the one in Austin and see if the hipsters have found the lodge there. Because yeah if it is anything like our lodge, It would be a hipsters dream.

... belief in God...

Which god? Does FSM count?

His noodly appendages are so comforting...

AcneVulgaris: Nothing like hanging out with a bunch of career alcoholics in a dark, smelly room.

So, just like fark, but everyone is in the same room.

Brainwash: OK, once and for all, can someone please clarify what a 'hipster' is?

A) People who do sensible things that people have been doing for hundreds if not thousands of years, but which the majority of Americans no longer do because they are fat, lazy, unmotivated consumer whores that don't enjoy learning new skills or making things.

B) People who ride fixies, feel obligated to hate any band if it's popular, wear fake glasses with thick rims and put birds on everything.

C) Anyone who does something you hate.

Brainwash: OK, once and for all, can someone please clarify what a 'hipster' is?

A douchebag without an American Express card?

ScottMpls: Brainwash: OK, once and for all, can someone please clarify what a 'hipster' is?

A douchebag without an American Express card?

Now wait a minute, I'm a douchebag and I do not have an AmEx card and fark you I am not a hipster.

Brainwash: OK, once and for all, can someone please clarify what a 'hipster' is?

The youngsters in the article aren't hipsters. There's nothing ironic in their involvement.

So young guys figuring out something old guys knew was cool is news.

These are places cats go to drink when their wives get crabby about bars. The meat market factor is almost nil, the music is usually respectable older, and the drama levels are fairly low. Social drinking at its finest. Don't fark it up, hipsters.

diver1: My wife and I are Moose members in our 30's. We live in a small college town and it is about the only place to go hang out if you are over 25. Cheap ass drinks, cheap food, basically a good dive bar. Great potlucks, themed parties as well as major holiday parties. Since it is a private club and gambling is legal in this state which means poker nights, blackjack nights, bingo and slot machines. and your vices just add to the coffers for all of the charity work they do. They don't require you believe in God per say, just a higher power. I chose to believe in mother nature and that was good enough for them. Oh and they state you can't be a terrorist currently or in the past (seriously it says so on the application.). Our lodge doesn't have any hipsters because there arn't any in this town except for the college kids. But I can't wait to go back home and check out the one in Austin and see if the hipsters have found the lodge there. Because yeah if it is anything like our lodge, It would be a hipsters dream.

So if I said I believe that there are extraterrestrials out in the universe somewhere that are more powerful than humans, would that count? They're higher (up in the sky) and have power and I have faith that they exist somewhere.

I'm an Elk.
The San Francisco Elk's lodge is awesome.
We have a great pool, and an awesome building right in the heart of SF.

BTW, that whole "believe in God" thing, even when we were going through the meetings that led to membership, they said that "God" could be interpreted any way that you want.
It's archaic language, but hey, they have a swimming pool and cheap beer.

Evil Kirk vs Bad Ash: FTFA: For around $100 per year, men and women 21 and older can join the Elks. The only requirements: American citizenship, a belief in God and sponsorship of an existing club member.

Ah, no thanks.

My dad loves it and they raise lots of money for the community also he is in his 70's.
I was a surprise baby, surprise your 50 something and a new parent so my dad had to find a way to get out of the house more.