The week-long event will include memorabilia and the menu of the iconic Mill Avenue Irish pub, once a staple of Mill Avenue in downtown Tempe. This is a sign of the times that ASU's growing real estate influence, coupled with Tempe's changing infrastructure, is suffocating the once-bustling nightlife in the city.
It is a deflating development as the University attempts to shift its perception from "party school" to the No. Skyrocketing real estate costs have also pushed out classic college bars and hangouts across Tempe that once served a young and broke college population. The nightlife is different in Tempe now. Gone are the seedy college bars with cheap drinks and approachable vibes. With this change comes another loss, as the watering holes from the olden days were close to home football games, providing a space for students to bond.
Open from December to December , he said it was a bar that wanted to attract a wide audience, including the obvious college-aged population. However, bars that depended on a college student population and the ability to pack the place were stripped of their entire clientele in with pandemic shutdowns.
Combined with the rising costs of real estate in the area, it became difficult for the older, more established businesses to stay afloat, according to Healey. The loss of bars like Healey's isn't just a loss of physical space to drink and watch TV. The change deprives students of an important sense of community that remains years after they graduate and brings them to revisit their old haunts. The game was on the TVs, but no one was really watching. When Desmond Cambridge Jr.
Healey said he talks to people who do not know where to watch a road game in Tempe. Like, I don't know, I literally don't know," Healey said.
