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MSU alum to bartend during inauguration

January 20, 2009

David Thurow, center, jokes with an employee while serving drinks at his bar, Capitol Lounge, Sunday evening in Washington, D.C. Thurow runs the bar with a midwestern theme, often showing games that can’t be seen locally and offering MSU-themed food and discounts.

Photo by Katie Rausch | The State News

Washington — While most people in Washington, D.C., will be fighting off other spectators at the National Mall today, 2006 MSU alumnus David Thurow will be trying to tame a different kind of crowd — the one expected to gather at the bar where he works.

Thurow works as a bartender at Capitol Lounge, 229 Pennsylvania Ave., in Washington, D.C., while working on his master’s degree at Naval War College.

He began bartending in Washington in 2006 at a different bar, where he got the idea to broadcast MSU games for him and his friends, he said.

“I got a hold of the alumni association, and it turned my group of 12 into a steady group of 100 coming in for the games,” he said.

When Thurow switched to the Capitol Lounge, he brought his idea and his business with him, he said.

“I went to Capitol Lounge, and said ‘I’ll bring you good, sizable business every Saturday as long as you hire me as a bartender,’” he said.

There are many items on the menu tailored to Michigan, Thurow said.

“We have … Pokey sticks. We can’t use the term — we call them Spartan sticks — but they’re essentially the same thing,” he said.

In addition, the MSU fight song is on the jukebox and there is a button on the cash register that reads ‘MSU Spartans,’” he said.

Although bars in the Washington, D.C., area can stay open until 5 a.m. during inaugural week, Capitol Lounge will be closing at its regular time, Thurow said.

“It was a decision by our owner,” he said. “When you have people used to pacing themselves until a certain time, and now they have another two or three hours, you’re just asking for trouble.”

Chris Montesa, a 2005 MSU alumnus, also works as a bartender at Cafe Bonaparte, in Georgetown.

“It’s just an exciting time to be here, and that’s why I’m here,” Montesa said.

Political science senior Nic Clark, who is in Washington for the inauguration, said there have been mobs of people on the streets and lines around the corner at night. The crowd is mostly people from out of town, and people overwhelmingly open up the conversation with talk of their hometowns, he said.

“We have been trying to get things done during the daytime, so we try not to stay out late,” he said. “But it doesn’t really work out all the time.”

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