Looking at the menu of the Players’ Retreat bar poses a paradox speaks greater to the personality of the bar itself. On the same menu with the classic burger and the bacon covered iceberg wedge is French foie gras and an elegant steak. According to owner Richard “Gus” Gusler, the PR has something for everyone.
“We are a dive bar,” Gusler, N.C. State alum of 1972, said as he toted a pilsner while celebrating the PR’s 60th anniversary. “We are a dive bar with some class, though. Not that all dives bars have a certain amount of class.”
While boasting a wine list recognized by Wine Spectator Magazine and the largest single-malt scotch list on the east coast, the PR maintains a humble appearance with a dimly lit tavern and dining room. The corner at the end of the bar is unofficially reserved for the regulars, who routinely sip on their respective Pabst Blue Ribbons or glasses of whiskey.
The borderline-cluttered décor of beer bottles, pictures, beer glasses and newspaper clippings tell a story of the 60-year-old history the PR has undergone. The mix of old people and college students provides a feeling that the PR is old, but not outdated.
According to a memoir of former employee Carol Locke, the PR’s long run comes from an attitude established by its first owner, Bernie Hanula.
“Bernie was not a trend setter,” Locke wrote, “and because of that, the Players’ Retreat remained consistent throughout the years.”
The extrapolation of this quote transcends why the PR has not only lasted, but also how the bar attracts an eclectic crowd.
“This has always been a place where anyone can come,” Gusler said. “It’s always been that way.”
Although the bar attracts large crowds for sports games and in the past was a meeting place for the N.C. State football team, the origins of its name doesn’t come from sports.
“When the PR was first established by Dan Allen Drive in 1951, it was to serve the ‘players,’ the actors from Raleigh Little Theater,” Gusler said.
The restaurant moved to its current location on 105 Oberlin Drive in 1961 and was one of the few bars in Raleigh.
“This was the sports bar here, back at the time,” Gusler said. “It went from being theater people to being a sports bar. This was the first bar I came to, the first beer I ever drank in Raleigh when I came here in 1967. It’ll probably be the last one too.”
Gusler first started at the PR as a cook will he was student body president his senior year at the University in 1971. His countless anecdotes of the connections between the bar and the University have been documented on the walls of the watering hole, with portraits of the football team and pictures of faculty and alumni passing time.
The bar attracts, according to Gusler’s observations, 70 percent professionals, including politicians, doctors, lawyers and entrepreneurs, including the regulars too. The rest are students and the youth. However, the demographic split wasn’t always that way. Bob Hughes, a regular at the bar and dear friend of the Hanula family, said that more students frequented in the past.
“I’m joking, but there were more kids when you could drink at 18,” Hughes said.
Nevertheless, the PR has a strong student following.
“I like the decorations, especially the pictures,” Sokun Hourn, a senior in biochemistry, said. “It’s so old and it contains a lot of history. It’s very eclectic.”
The daily specials attract students on a budget and last Sunday, while the bar celebrated its 60th anniversary, the kitchen churned out 25-cent hotdogs and 35-cent beer.
“One thing I also like about the PR, when you go to normal bars there is the regular crowd and you feel out of place,” Hourn said. “But at the PR, they have a more diverse crowd in ages, with older folks and college students.”
Hourn’s point goes along with an idea of respect and etiquette that the bar has been practicing since the Hanula family opened it. Gusler said that Bernie Hanula set a rule that everyone was treated fairly at the PR and that they’re all the same. Locke’s memoir and Gusler’s accounts also mentioned the list of rules that the PR has established, one of which being if a fight breaks out, the belligerents can never return.
“I’ve only seen two people get in a fight,” Gusler said. “It was some knucklehead and one of the cooks. We just had to fire the cook.”
However, despite the history and rapport the PR has established, people return for the food and the atmosphere.
”I come at least two to three times a week,” McBryde Cameron, former N.C. State student, said. “I think it’s the environment, since it’s not really the typical college bar. I like their chicken fingers, called ‘chicken retreats’ and I also come for the beer pitchers and whiskey.”
