Editor’s Note: This story was originally published in 2017.
Cincinnati has changed a lot since 1996. Sure, the Bengals and Reds haven’t won a playoff game or series, respectfully, over that period, and Charlie Winburn is somehow still on City Council. But the city’s core — from Northside to Over-the-Rhine to the riverfront — has never been more vibrant. New and unique businesses and cultural enterprises pop up every day. We’ve even finally introduced something every progressive city needs: enhanced public transit.
That’s not to say there haven’t been a few mainstays over that period, local touchstones that have stood the test of time. Enter The Comet. The Northside night spot has changed little in the two decades since owner and operator Dave Cunningham opened its eclectic doors on Hamilton Avenue in 1996, and that’s exactly what has made it such an enduring and vital meeting place for certain kinds of Cincinnatians — from artists and musicians to bikers and burrito lovers.
“At the time, the cultural climate of the city was pretty sparse,” Cunningham says. “There weren’t a whole lot of options when it came to great bars, and there just weren’t a lot of options for free-thinking, beer-loving, bar-going individuals.”
Cunningham grew up in Mount Adams, long a nightlife hotspot. He comes from a line of bar owners and operators, and he started in the family business at a young age.
“I have been behind the bar my whole life,” Cunningham says. “I got my first job working in Mount Adams when I was 12 years old bar-backing at The Blind Lemon. I was as tall as I am now, pretty much, so nobody bothered to ask how old I was. It was a different time, a different era. They knew me as this neighborhood kid, so that was my first adventure into the bar life.”
He saw and learned a lot about the business at an early age. As an inevitable baseball fan during the Big Red Machine era, one anecdote really sticks with him from his Blind Lemon days — but, curiously, it came courtesy of the Reds’ dreaded Western Division rivals.
“I remember when the Dodgers were in town, Tommy Lasorda would come to the bar,” Cunningham says. “I was a big fan of his, and I remember thinking, ‘Holy shit, there’s Tommy Lasorda!’ He would greet the room with a big ‘Hello!’ I remember thinking, ‘This is amazing.’ Hundred-dollar bills crossing the bar, and here I am, this young guy washing dishes. I was like, ‘This is where it’s at.’ ”
Cunningham was also a Punk Rock kid who came of age in the 1980s attending shows at The Jockey Club, the dingy Newport venue that hosted national acts like Bad Brains and Black Flag and locals like SS-20 and Human Zoo.
“Before that I was just kind of listening to whatever was on the radio, but the first Punk Rock show I went to I was like, ‘Oh my god, these are my people, this is where I’m supposed to be,’ ” Cunningham says.
That love of music has infused nearly everything he’s done at The Comet, from the long-running Sunday-night residency of the Comet Bluegrass All-Stars to hosting the occasional touring act to the popular “Basement Reggae Night.”
Then there’s Cunningham’s obsession with burritos, something he picked up while living for a period in San Francisco. In fact, he cites burritos as the main reason he wanted to open his own place.
“In San Francisco there were burritos on every corner,” Cunningham says. “And I was like, ‘Man, I really want a burrito.’ ”
He casually checked in with a Cincinnati realtor one day in 1995, never thinking that it would lead to what has become a 20-year endeavor. “It was really just a lark to see what was available, just like when you would pick up the classifieds and see what’s going on,” Cunningham says of his search to find a place where he could serve up his favorite food. “I came across this address in Northside, which, at that time, wasn’t on anyone’s radar, but I knew how to get to Hamilton Avenue, and the price was reasonable.”
He almost immediately fell in love with the space, which originally opened as a bar in the 1930s. “I walked through, and it was like a time capsule,” Cunningham says. “And I thought, ‘You know, I can get people to drive down Ludlow (Avenue) for an extra two miles and get here. I can give this a try.’ ”
The Comet’s discerningly stocked beer case and now-iconic jukebox are but two reasons it has remained many a Cincinnatian’s go-to spot. Yet Cunningham is as surprised as anyone that The Comet’s patrons now include the children of the bar’s first wave of 1990s twentysomethings.
“Through the years things have changed,” Cunningham says. “The internet was invented and the city has blossomed into an amazing place. Now there are probably 30 different options on any given night for entertainment and drinks.”
The Comet has endured for a pretty simple reason: “Somebody turns 21 every single day,” Cunningham says, laughing.
But it’s more than that, and he knows it.
“Our philosophy has always been to be as close to a traditional pub as possible, but there are all kinds of jewels in our crown that make it what it is — everything from the burritos and craft beer to Bluegrass and free-thinking music,” Cunningham says.
It’s also been a hub for a certain kind of cultural engagement — The Comet recently hosted benefits for the protestors at Standing Rock and for Planned Parenthood.
“It’s an extension of who I think we are,” Cunningham says. “I’ve always been involved with the underground of sorts. I don’t have an official policy or stance on it, but I feel those things are important. There’s a political element to it — it’s definitely more political than burritos or motorcycles — but we are an extension of the living room here.
“We’re a public house in the traditional sense,” he continues. “People have been gathering in pubs for hundreds of years in Ireland and England to discuss things, and to deny a political element — especially in today’s climate — would be irresponsible. The people who gather here have a voice, and the best way to exercise that voice is through events.”
Cunningham is well aware that those same people have made The Comet what it is today. “I never really set out with the intentions of this being my life’s work,” Cunningham says.
“All of it would be nothing without the people who show up. I’m eternally grateful that this has worked out. I feel like an elected official of sorts. People vote by walking across the threshold to visit The Comet.”
THE COMET is located at 4579 Hamilton Ave., Northside. More info: 513-541-8900 or cometbar.com.
This article appears in Mar 29 – Apr 5, 2017.