Southern comforts; travel savannah

0 Comments | Sunday Herald, The, Apr 9, 2000 | by Simon Pia

Good old boys drink whisky and rye, but what's the tipple of a famous drag queen? Simon Pia visits the most beautiful town of America to find out

HE first thing they ask ya in Atlanta is what's your business, in Macon it's what church you go to and in Savannah it's whatcha like to drink?"

As fine an introduction as you could get to the Hostess city of the South by none other than the hostess with the mostest herself, The Lady Chablis.

Ever since "the book" - as Savannahians call John Berendt's Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil - the drag queen has vied with the downtown historic district as the Georgia city's main attraction. Appearing as herself alongside Kevin Spacey in Clint Eastwood's film adaptation saw Chablis outstrip even songwriter Johnny 'Moon river' Mercer as Savannah's superstar.

It so happens that The Lady is back in town for one of her all too rare appearances at the gay Club One, an opportunity too good to miss. One of our party isn't so sure, but he needn't have worried as half of middle America seems to be there - along with a couple of burly cops - squeezing in for a vicarious thrill on the slightly seedy outskirts of City Market, the clubbing and pubbing heart of downtown Savannah.

The incongruity of it all sums up the city. Two little old lady lesbians, who wouldn't look out of place at the women's guild, are the front of house staff. They insist on tucking us in standing-room only at the back while gay hustlers cruise the bar looking to pick up custom en route to the john.

Celebrity has no limits as the ultimate fulfilment of the American dream and is the official religion of the United States. The audience, young and old, are here to bear witness. Approaching the stage the awestruck pilgrims file forward, grasping their dollars in front of them like votive candles, waiting to slip five bucks in The Lady's brassiere.

But it is the good old Scottish accent that catches The Lady's attention at the bar after the show and two magic words soon have her in the bosom of our company. "Shirley Bassey? Ah am so flattered ya think y'mama's like her. Young people in America are just so ignorant. They don't know who she is ... but not a refined gentleman like yoursel'."

Flattered to be sure. It's nice to get so intimate with celebrity. In Las Vegas you were never likely to bump into Elvis over a burger or Francis Albert at the crap table let alone have them sit in your lap, but Savannah is just that kinda town.

A small town maybe but with big city savvy, refined taste and southern gentility that mingles with a louche and lively nightlife. In many ways it is atypical of the nation, which might explain why Le Monde described it as "la plus belle ville en Amerique".

You can thank the renovation and conservation of the historic downtown area. Started in the mid-50s it has preserved one of the most beautiful neighbourhoods in North America. Twenty-one squares are linked in a grid system which boasts a sweeping array of architectural taste. Packed into one square mile, French provencal, American colonial, Parisian and Victorian townhouses and Italian renaissance palazzos blend together and are perfectly offset by oak- lined streets shrouded in Spanish moss. With spring kicking in, the musky odour of azaleas, dogwood, jasmine, honeysuckle and magnolias. This heady brew meanders through what Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone With the Wind, described as "the gentle city by the sea, beguiling with its soft, slurring accent."

The layout of the squares reduces traffic to a crawl, creating what is essentially a pedestrian area. City planners have had the vision to reinforce this, using Bay Street by the river and Martin Luther King Jnr Boulevard as effective detours.

Across Bay Street, on the lip of the historic downtown, lies River Street and Factors Walk, the public dock. With its cobbled streets and the old cotton exchange it is more akin to 19th Century Bristol than the Deep South. Cotton was king in Georgia for over a century and it was through Savannah that it was shipped out to the old world.

The river front is the most touristy part of the city and is heaving at the weekends with visitors, students and sailors. It's a bit tacky, especially in comparison to the sophistication and refinement of the historic section. But what the area lacks in subtlety it makes up in excitement. There is a real buzz coming from bars like Kevin Barry's, the River Street Inn and Billy-Bob's. Meanwhile, seafood restaurants such as Shuckers draw in custom by shucking oysters non-stop in the front window. The bustle of a still active port, the biggest and deepest in the South, combined with the large student population of Savannah College of Art and Design give the city's nightlife the edge and vibrancy of highbrow and lowbrow locked in a dance.

But as John Berendt pointed out, Savannahians have always prided themselves on being different. As the first settlement in Georgia, founded in 1733, Savannah had Spanish, French and British influences. It was also a haven for pirates as Robert Louis Stevenson was aware - it was here Billy Bones got the map of Treasure Island from Captain Flint informing Jim Hawkins: "He gave it me in Savannah when he lay a- dying."