In the fall thousands of college kids will migrate to new cities looking for the place that will be their perfect escape. The place that doesn’t look twice at (fake) IDs that say you’re an old Chinese man, where they can make memories with their friends, experience their first bar fight and sing ‘Sweet Caroline’ at the top of their lungs. But finding this special place without help from the upper classmen will be difficult. It’s not as simple as Googling “Best Bars,” because the best treasures are usually buried.

There was a bar that I loved in college that had giant portions (this is important when you’re a college kid and are trying to cram a day’s worth of eating into one meal) of really good food that was affordable even at the end of the semester. They had pitchers of beer for $6.00 and the best chicken wings.

You could drive past this bar a thousand times and not know it was there. It was tucked away next to a laundromat and had a faded, non-lit sign. But on the inside it was the perfect escape from campus. It was dark and filled with the Lynyrd Skynyrd crowd and an Elvis look-a-like playing pool. Not the typical college bar, but still not a place I would even consider bringing my parents. It was the perfect escape from campus and not likely one you would find in a Zagat guide.

It is places like this often are passed down from class to class with the stories that took place there. And in ten years when you happen to meet a new student attending your alma mater, you will tell them about how awful the fake ID you got away with was, and pass on the legacy. Hole-in-the-wall bars like this may not seem like much on the outside, but once you are inside you are extremely thankful for the helpful hint and the memories to come.