“Now That’s Class”

“Now That’s Class”

We opened in November of 2006. In January of 2007 I heard through the grapevine that another punk bar was opening up two blocks away. Of course I was like, what? At first I kind of did not believe it. How long has it been since a new place that caters to punks only opened up and two places open up in a year, let alone two blocks from each other. I remember I went to look for the place and I really did not know where exactly. It was Super Bowl Sunday and I went to the block where I thought it would be and went in to the only bar on the block that was open. I walked in and it seemed like the whole bar looked at me and the place came to a screeching halt. I did not walk into “Now That’s Class” (I would find out later that it would not open until later that March) I walked in to the “Hawk”. The Hawk is what some gays that come to the Spitfire refer to as “where gays go to die”. Imagine a seedy, small, hole in the wall, gay bar. It is essentially a late night pick up joint, but the place is always hopping. Usually when I go into a bar, I feel obligated to buy one drink and leave, but the situation being what it was and the place being packed, I just turned around and walked out. I do not consider myself homophobic, but this was a extreme situation and I felt very awkward. Well anyway I would later learn that “Now That’s Class” was next door to the hawk. Of course when a new place opens up or two similar places exist, people take sides or pledge their allegiance to one place. There are several similarities between us and “Class“. A lot of it is because their owner and myself are roughly the same age, we group up in Cleveland , I grew up on the Westside (“The Best SIDE..”) and he grew up on the East side. We both know a lot of the same people, being in this scene (20+years) you are going to know everyone (at least your age). The biggest things that are that really separate us are 1.) Spitfire is 21 & Over – “Class” is all ages. 2.) We are strictly punk- “Class” has a pretty open format, as long as its underground (from indie -rock-rap). 3.) Our shows are free- “class’s shows are for the most part pay shows, but they have the room for larger national acts. 4.) Spitfire only does shows on Friday and Saturday (with 2 or 3 bands)- Class has shows every night with anywhere from 3-5 bands. 5.) The average age at Spitfire is probably 29- “class“ is probably about 24. (essentially its not who is better, we try to be more of a bar, they are more of a live club)

If you ask different people in Cleveland the differences you will have a lot of people talking a lot of negative stuff about Spitfire or “Class” depending on where they go. I would say that we share about %30 of the same clientele, and those people respect both places. Most people think that me and the owner of “Class” are big enemies, not the case at all, we both are trying to survive and nurture the local scene. I know that employees of both places have a tendencies of talking shit about the opposite place, but whatever. Spitfire has no issue with “class” we are essentially both trying to do the same thing, but are going about it in different ways, and we are really completely different places to go. You might prefer Spitfire or “class” or both. The fact is that it’s really a small group of people that try to make Spitfire and “class” out to have some kind of conflict when one does not exist..