calling the rockford a hipster paradise is like calling the village deli a hipster paradise. An employee commonality does not an establishment make.

rarely were there any hipsters at the rockford who weren't employees.

As for those who say they've never heard of The Rockford, I am wonder where it is you typically eat. Chains or local establishments. I can't name an individual I know >23yo in Raleigh-Chapel Hill-Durham who hasn't eaten there at least once.

This kills me because it was the best bang for the buck. $8 plates, with generous sides and a fine beer selection.


As for sho-nuff
http://www.newraleigh.com/articles/archive/raleigh-loses-downtown-icon-sho-nuff/
http://thewolfweb.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=591810

4/6/2010 1:41:40 PM

Quote :

"As for those who say they've never heard of The Rockford, I am wonder where it is you typically eat. Chains or local establishments. I can't name an individual I know >23yo in Raleigh-Chapel Hill-Durham who hasn't eaten there at least once. "

please STFU with this kind of bullshit. Just because you and your buddies are affluent and "in the know" don't assume that everyone is.

4/6/2010 1:49:34 PM

What are you even talking about? Eating at the Rockford is hardly a trait of the affluent. I posed a serious question, where is it that they eat. If they focus predominately on chains, then that explains it. Otherwise I put in the caveat that maybe they haven't hit an age range where they would know about the spot yet.

You have issues.

4/6/2010 1:53:45 PM

I have had some great dates there.

4/6/2010 1:54:35 PM

^^I don't eat at chains either...well mostly I don't. Rockford just wasn't one of the places I've heard of.

4/6/2010 1:55:57 PM

the point is, not everyone has the extra cash lying around to go out to eat, or the ability to drive to wherever a restaurant might be.

I may have issues (seriously though, who doesn't?), but you have a spoiled sense of reality.

4/6/2010 1:56:07 PM

My husband (then-boyfriend) first introduced me to The Rockford when we first started dating. I was 22 and had never even heard of this place before. It was his regular hangout. We went there regularly for dinner and drinks. We haven't been there in about a year b/c of our schedule. My husband is in shock over their closing.


He said if he was ever going to buy a restaurant (he's a chef), it would be The Rockford.

4/6/2010 1:56:16 PM

i don't know anyone who hasn't been there, or anyone who wouldn't immediately mention it when someone asks where to go for a date (including my parents)

also, when did eating local mean affluent? i eat local more often than not and i'm fucking poor.

4/6/2010 1:57:21 PM

The rockford is in walking distance from campus (or a very short busride/bike ride). I also used to regularly run by it, when I ran in raleigh.

[Edited on April 6, 2010 at 1:59 PM. Reason : eating local means, keeping the money flow local, which goes beyond class/eco status]

4/6/2010 1:58:13 PM

Support local!


I am devastated.

[Edited on April 6, 2010 at 1:58 PM. Reason : f]

4/6/2010 1:58:27 PM

This is where I took my wife on our first date, back in 2007. So much for our anniversary plans of re-enacting that date...

4/6/2010 1:59:57 PM

It has to be something fishy or something they aren't being honest about.

4/6/2010 2:02:26 PM

as someone who went in multiple times per week, it's been relatively slow for a while

some of that is the fact that everywhere's been slow

but perhaps the idea here was to let it go before employees started missing checks or hours got weird

4/6/2010 2:05:46 PM

Quote :

"not everyone has the extra cash lying around to go out to eat, or the ability to drive to wherever a restaurant might be."

so they never go to a chick-fil-a because they don't have money or can't drive? chick-fil-a is just as expensive as the rockford and i bet they hit that up a few times a month.

lets not turn this into something it isn't, but lets do focus on the importance of eating at local establishments and making an effort to branch out your horizons lest we want to make this sort of travesty a common occurrence.

^
is it better to burn out or to fade away

[Edited on April 6, 2010 at 2:09 PM. Reason : high fidelity ]

4/6/2010 2:08:50 PM

I, too, hate restaurants that are not national chains.

4/6/2010 2:09:57 PM

wait, so The Rockford is a hipster hangout?


well fuck.


I loved The Rockford and I can't stand hipsters.

4/6/2010 2:13:19 PM

Quote :

"i agree. it could also be the fact that as more restaurants and bars moved into Glenwood South, the rent on the space had gone up."

As I understand it, the owner of The Rockford also owns the building that it is in.

4/6/2010 2:18:08 PM

i think we need more info before we blame it on hipsters, gelheads, johnny popcollars, or poor people who can only afford to walk to mcdonalds. all i know it that it always seemed fairly busy when i went there. had to wait for a table probably over half the time.

4/6/2010 2:25:36 PM

that is correct. he owns the entire building so both 320s and the one beside it. but even then if the mortgage was high it would effectively be the same as having high rent. increasing property taxes probably didn't help either.

4/6/2010 2:26:58 PM

just a heads up, but this is definitely not good news for the future of the Jackpot

4/6/2010 2:29:33 PM

I've never eaten at this place, but I want to say I've at least heard of it.

Yes, I'm being serious. I admittedly know dick about what's in downtown Raleigh.

4/6/2010 2:30:05 PM

Quote :

"As I understand it, the owner of The Rockford also owns the building that it is in."

ahhhh ok. well then scratch that then.

4/6/2010 2:31:48 PM

you're telling me

SAVE US, PAUL/CHEETIE/STEVE/BEN

4/6/2010 2:32:01 PM

Quote :

"that is correct. he owns the entire building so both 320s and the one beside it. but even then if the mortgage was high it would effectively be the same as having high rent. increasing property taxes probably didn't help either."

The Rockford was amazing because it was in violation of so many fire codes. Maybe the city cracked down and he didn't want to spend a ton of money remodelling to add handicap access and sprinklers.

Fortunately, if a new bar opens I think the stairs are too narrow to haul Golden Tee up there.

4/6/2010 2:34:47 PM

we have a golden tee machine at jackpot

that shit is fucking addictive

i think the employees are the only ones that use it

4/6/2010 2:35:44 PM

if i owned a company i wouldn't mind swapping up that spot for my HQ

4/6/2010 2:38:07 PM

Back in high school I would always hang out in the record shop below it.

The Rockford people would always look at me funny when I would walk up and use their bathroom.

4/6/2010 2:41:01 PM

damn i've lived in raleigh for over 10 years and never went to that place.

4/6/2010 2:44:28 PM

Noooooooooo

4/6/2010 2:48:47 PM

So the future of Rockford and Jackpot are somehow linked? I guess I'm not enough in the loop to know about that connection.

If there is indeed a link, why would you close Rockford first? Jackpot is actually profitable?

4/6/2010 2:56:58 PM

They're both owned by YUM Brands.

4/6/2010 2:58:21 PM

it could be worse.

it could be raining.

4/6/2010 3:00:09 PM

Quote :

"They're both owned by YUM Brands."

hahaha

4/6/2010 3:01:13 PM

rain is good for the next few weeks, cuts the pollen...

4/6/2010 3:01:37 PM

rockford and jackpot are owned by the same person

i have no idea how profitable jackpot is, but needless to say the overhead is very low

4/6/2010 3:08:43 PM

Quote :

"So the future of Rockford and Jackpot are somehow linked? I guess I'm not enough in the loop to know about that connection. If there is indeed a link, why would you close Rockford first? Jackpot is actually profitable?"

same dude owns both

4/6/2010 3:09:12 PM

this is very very sad

eric ^ texted me while i was in class and couldn't believe it. we just ate at rockford like last week.

and now all those peeps are scrambling for jobs

MEGA FROWNY FACES UP IN HERE

and jpot? i'm super sad

at least the new kings is coming but STILL. i'm tres tres sad

SAY IT AIN'T SO!

4/6/2010 4:31:31 PM

Never heard of the place. Sounds like its a hipster hive.

Quote :

"The Rockford was amazing because it was in violation of so many fire codes. "

I don't even know what to say.

And who the fuck says its walking distance from campus? I, for one, do not consider a mile normal walking distance.

4/6/2010 4:44:45 PM

it takes about 20 minutes to walk a mile......... is that really not what you call walking distance?

4/6/2010 4:46:21 PM

i would never refer to a place my parents enjoyed as "hipster"

the people working there were hipsters i guess (same people that hang out at jpot)

but like the crowd wasn't that hipster at all. lots of older folk. a million colorful polo shirts and teenie shorts (you know that ain't hipster)

plus my parents liked it. my parents are like the complete opposite of everything hipster. so. it really wasn't hipster. i can see why people say the jackpot is hipster but the rockford? come on. if that is hipster then so are like a million other places in downtown raleigh

OMG the people that work at jackpot and the rockford also hang out at landmark. AND i saw a lesbian there once. must be a hipster bar.

4/6/2010 4:47:27 PM

Quote :

"And who the fuck says its walking distance from campus? I, for one, do not consider a mile normal walking distance."

How is a mile not normal walking distance? If the alternative is having to have a DD, or driving back drunk, I'll walk a mile to a bar any day.

4/6/2010 4:48:00 PM

I always liked to start the hillsborough hike at The Goat and end at Glenwood, then bar-hop Glenwood South.

4/6/2010 4:50:01 PM

RIP Jackpot and Rockford

4/6/2010 4:50:08 PM

There's a big gap between the Goat and pretty much every bar.

4/6/2010 4:50:47 PM

so Jackpot folded too, now, huh?

rough day for the owner.

4/6/2010 4:51:12 PM

That's why you get tanked at The Goat and then run your ass off to Playmakers.

4/6/2010 4:51:28 PM

Is that official? When does it take effect?

4/6/2010 4:51:51 PM

^a lot That's why I say 'normal' walking distance. After a night of drinking does not count towards normal.

No, I do not consider 20 minutes/1 mile normal walking distance. Centennial is about 20 walking minutes from my apartment, but I would not normally walk it. Or to main campus, or anywhere unless there was some circumstance where I otherwise could not avoid walking.

Occasional venture? Sure, no prob.

Quote :

"the people working there were hipsters i guess (same people that hang out at jpot) but like the crowd wasn't that hipster at all. lots of older folk. a million colorful polo shirts and teenie shorts (you know that ain't hipster) plus my parents liked it. my parents are like the complete opposite of everything hipster. so. it really wasn't hipster. i can see why people say the jackpot is hipster but the rockford? come on. if that is hipster then so are like a million other places in downtown raleigh"

Isn't that the definition of hipster?? That they like things that are ironic to their own definition...which is to not have definition...and they hate themselves, fuck you people are confusing

[Edited on April 6, 2010 at 4:55 PM. Reason : shit, late to class]

[Edited on April 6, 2010 at 4:55 PM. Reason : moar]

4/6/2010 4:52:58 PM

Jackpot isn't closed yet, but probably will be in the next few weeks

The Goat sucks btw

and i'm not sure wtf ThePeter is talking about... Rockford was a place that had good food, i guess if hipsters like good, cheap food then it's a "hipster hive"

[Edited on April 6, 2010 at 4:56 PM. Reason : .]

4/6/2010 4:54:02 PM

^^Shut the fuck up. Just shut up.

And yes, the Goat sucks real bad.

[Edited on April 6, 2010 at 4:57 PM. Reason : .]

4/6/2010 4:56:20 PM