Watering Holes:
Cafe 210 – Pitches of Long Island Ice Teas or Captain and Coke
Adams Apple – Orginal Sin
Phryst – Table Wars
Lion’s Den – $1 Rum and Cokes

As for entertainment…any bar Mr. Hand is playing at (Skeller, Brewery, etc)

Sit Down Dinner: The Tavern, right in the middle of East College and has good food.

Best Wings in State College are at Wings Over Happy Valley
Best Pizza: Canyon or College Pizza
Ice Cream: Creamery!
Breakfest spot: The Ye Olde College Diner (must get a Grilled Sticky) (great hang over food too)

Must visit the Lion Shrine outside of Rec Hall.

Must experience all of the “WE ARE” chants during your walk to the stadium from downtown.

Best game day tradition is playing beer pong tournaments. Also during cold november games, standing around the grill passing around a stick of pepporoni until it is gone.

As for a last minute hotel. look for hotels and hour or so outside of State College. Don’t need the two night minimum.

they should also check out www.LionMenus.com the site gives you all the bar and food specials and breaks it down by day of the week.

Get to the game early on game day. Go Park at the stadium then walk down town. I like to go to one of the bars for a round of drinks, I just randomly pick as walking (I’m sure other people will have good ideas on this). Drink enough to feel good but actually make it through the game. I like to eat at the corner – eat downstairs in a booth. Walk back to the stadium, I usually walk up through campus, stopping at the lion shrine. You can go to the creamery for an ice cream, but the line is LONG so I usually skip this. Tailgate for at least 1-2 hours. If you follow this schedule you cannot go wrong in my experience.

Favorite restaurant: Corner-downstairs
Favorite Bar: phyrst or rathskellar

What are your favorite watering holes? Why? (drink specials? entertainment? atmosphere?)

The Phyrst is better, but if you’re in from out of town you have to go the Rathskellar. If you’re dressed up, and you can get in, the Addams Apple is a much better bar than the Tavern is a restaurant. Original Sins will knock your socks off, but they are for tourists. Try their Martini, nothing fancy like at Tony’s Big Easy but a quality drink.

Places to eat for a nice sit down dinner?

The American Ale House is way, way, better than the Tavern, and they take reservations.

Places to eat for a quick bite? (Wings, pizza, burgers, etc.)

Champs. Opens a 9:00 am on gamedays and they’ll get you in and out quick. Best sandwiches in town, decent pizza, good drinks.

What are your favorite traditions on game day?

Winning and tailgating I guess. That seems kind of nebulous, but what else is there really?

What are your favorite things to see or experience on campus or downtown?

Once you’ve hit the ‘Skellar, the Creamery and a football game, you’ve pretty much covered the State College experience.

Advice for getting last minute reservations?

Prayer.

Drinks- Saloon (Monkey Boys), Lion’s Den (2 dollars pitchers, 1 mixed drinks) IF you want to dance then Indigo is THE spot(thurs-sat dollar shots, dollar mixers, lots of ladies)

Eat- DInner: obviously the corner room and the tavern followed by Champs(although not in town)

late night food:The Diner, hands down fantastic at 215 in the morning

Pizza: Bell’s Greek Pizza (my favorite), Brother’s

i agree with everyone’s traditions

when i saw the Help Wanted I was really hoping for a low paying position here at BSD, oh well, i can still dream

Favorite Watering Holes:
I’ve never consumed alcohol in Happy Valley but I think I may have drink somewhere this year so I’ll have to look for suggestions. I’m not a big drinker but I’m not beyond drinking 1 or 2 socially.

Sit Down Dinner:
I like going to Champs after the game. Good atmosphere and their burgers are some of the best that I’ve ever had.

Quick Bite:
Pita Pit is a regularly stop for me when I’m in State College. I like being choose my own ingredients and their pitas are always good.

Parking:
I park off campus because I’m cheap, I hate fighting to get out of the lots, and I can walk to the bus stop in 2 minutes and take the Blue Loop up to the Beav no problem.

Traditions:
I’m not usually one for watching the band but I hate missing Blue Band and the Drum Major do his flips. I feel like I missed out on something when I show up late and miss the Blue Band.

Favorites on campus or downtown:
On campus it’s The Creamery. Downtown it’s going to the store with all of the Tshirt sayings. I forget the name but I’m sure others know what I’m talking about.

Best places to stay:
Well, I’ve stayed in a B&B which I wouldn’t recommend to anyone. I’ve stayed in a car along Route 80. I’ve stayed with friends in an RV for the Nebraska game and being in the RV lot was sweet but the guy I was with had horrible gas so that part didn’t thrill me. I guess I’d have to say, head up on Friday in an RV and enjoy the atmosphere but make sure your company isn’t lactose intollerant!! :-)

All the signs that say no parking 3-6AM are NOT enforced on football weekends. That usually makes frat row and that area a free place to park Friday night.

What are your favorite watering holes? Why? (drink specials? entertainment? atmosphere?)

No day better than the Rathskellar. It simply has the best atmosphere of any PSU bar. Just want to chill and enjoy a beer? Find a cozy corner and enjoy. Want to drink your face off? Have some car bombs and splurge on the $3 pitchers. Hungry? Have the gator burger or the chicken strips. Want to sing out loud and stand on a booth and act like a drunken fool? Pop in some Stones or Beatles or Zeppelin on their jukebox. You won’t be the only one standing at their booths. And it also has a great mix of students and alumni. There’s nothing better than talking to PSU alumni who are partying like they are still students. If you’re nice enough to them and prove you know PSU football, you’ll always get a few pitchers or shots on them.

Places to eat for a nice sit down dinner?

Beulah’s BBQ. It’s the upstairs of Bar Bleu. The ribs and pork are awesome. And you have a fairly popular bar right down the stairs.

Places to eat for a quick bite? (Wings, pizza, burgers, etc.)

I’ve always been partial to Penn State Sub Shop on Beaver ave. Their cheesesteaks are big and tasty and they have the best jalapeno poppers in State College.

Where are the best places to park and why?

Can’t help you there. I never drove while going there and I luckily have an acquaintance there where I can park for free.

What are your favorite traditions on game day?

The Skellar is good if you have no early morning tailgating plans. A lot of alumni go there and the bloody mary’s flow. The Deli has a bloody Mary special on Saturday mornings also. But I usually tailgated.

What are your favorite things to see or experience on campus or downtown?

The Skellar, the Creamery with their awesome milkshakes….and that’s about it until the tailgating starts.

Best places to stay? Advice for getting last minute reservations?

Hotels are at such a premium that any available room is a “best place to stay.” Let’s be honest here. You’re not going to be spending a lot of time in your room other than to wash up and sleep. But try a couple of days before the game. There’s been a couple of times when I did that and I benefited from a last minute cancellation. Also one year when I was living in State College Park apartments, they didn’t rent out all their apartments for that school year, so they rented some rooms out to weekend football visitors. Try giving the apartment complexes that are out of town a call to check out that possibility: The Pointe, State College Park, Nittany Crossing, etc.

Agree with most. Except for Canyon Pizza. Acme all the way! A few more thoughts:

Bar/Restaurant-Otto’s on North Atherton. They brew their own beer, and the food is good but not great.

Agree on American Ale House. One of the better places in SC.

Quick bite-V&S

I’m also interested to see what the new SportsCafe is going to be like. I’ve some pretty cool things.

What are your favorite watering holes? Why?

I’m not 21 unfortunately (three months left!), but in terms of a Penn State tradition, my father always talks highly of Zeno’s and the Rathskellar.

Places to eat for a nice sit down dinner?

The Deli has always been a family favorite and Art’s Fest tradition for my parents and their alumni friends ever since I was little. Always good food. For a little higher end dining, I recommend Gamble Mill in Bellefont, about 15 minutes from state college. Very cool restaurant built into an old mill.

Places to eat for a quick bite? (Wings, pizza, burgers, etc.)

C.C. Peppers has awesome hoagies, and fast food type stuff out by Wall-mart. Also, you can’t ever go wrong with Highway Pizza

Where are the best places to park and why?

On game-day, unless you’re a high-roller, it’s cow fields for you!! Actually the big fields for parking actually make for great tailgating area and plenty of room (assuming you don’t ram someone’s car) for frisbee and football games. Any other time of the year, aside from Art’s fest, you shouldn’t have much trouble finding a place on the street or in a garage.

What are your favorite traditions on game day?

Well assuming you like standing for long periods of time, the creamery is for you on game day, but I can tell you from experience (and lot’s of it, haha) that any amount of time for anything from the creamery is completely worth it. And assuming you’re with friends/family/or an extremely hungry stomach, the half-gallon line is always shorter, and probably your best bet. Tailgating is probably THE Penn State game day tradition, and is not to be missed (or for some of us, remembered).

What are your favorite things to see or experience on campus or downtown?

Creamery is always a good stop. Visiting the Lion Shrine for photo-ops. And you can’t go wrong with walking around on campus just to see it. Despite it’s packed, city-like reputation, for me State College and the campus have always had that small-town feel, and has to be one of the most beautiful campuses in the country (especially around Old Main with the old Elm trees lining the sidewalks.

Best places to stay? Advice for getting last minute reservations?

Especially on game day, my advice for last minute reservation is good f-ing luck. And if you don’t find accomidations, I hear Hotel [your car name here] is always open. Again, except for art’s fest, you should be good at any hotel from high-end to low-end during the rest of the year. Days Inn has a nice pool/gym, if that’s important to you.

Hope that helps Mike!

We Are…

The past few years I’ve taken my son, who is now 11. The IM field lot (#13?) is good because the band parades by, it’s near East Halls and the loop to downtown. My son really enjoyed Baby’s – line can be long, but they’ve got cheese fries and milkshakes. Tailgating with a kid is great, because everyone offers him food and drinks (and drinks for the Dad) and plays football or beanbags. We’ve tried to schedule football weekends when we can also check out another sport like women’s volleyball (whoo, hoo #1).

Here’s the real secret to the weekend: after the games and all the tailgating, we move the van over to the RV lot, fold down the seats, and unroll the sleeping bads. Then the next morning, we head downtown, park for free in the garages on Sunday and get to the Waffle House before the long line of hungover people arrives. Nothing like pecan waffles and bacon in State College on a sleepy Sunday morning.

As a student, we almost always went to the Gaff, the Phyrst (“cherrybombs” – cherries soaked in booze), or Skeller (“bucket of Rocks” – metal bucket filled with ice and pony bottles). Maybe I’m dating myself – does any of this still exist?? I’ll have to get to SC without the kids sometime to find out.

What are your favorite watering holes?

• Cafe 210 on Fridays of football weekends in the early fall has been a tradition of my friends and for years now, even 4 years now since we graduated. If the weather is nice, the drinks will come all day (and you will get a great meal out of it). Mad Mex is also a solid place to switch it up with margaritas. Skeller still the best overall though, maintains the full Penn State feel.

Places to eat for a nice sit down dinner?

• The Tavern is always a safe bet, along with the Allen Street Grille and the Deli

Places to eat for a quick bite? (Wings, pizza, burgers, etc.)

• College Pizza is great for a late nite snack (2 slices, breadstick, soda special is tough to beat), Pita Pit and Jimmy John’s are solid healthier options.

Where are the best places to park and why?

• We’ve tailgated in most lots, but I have to say my favorites have been the parking lot next to the BJC, and the grass lots behind the outdoor track.

What are your favorite traditions on game day?

• If you have a grill, multiple 30 packs, the washers game, bloody marys, and great friends, it will be the time of your life. There are not too many other feelings in life that beat the feeling of pulling up to the Beav at about 9AM on a sunny 54 degree day!

What are your favorite things to see or experience on campus or downtown?

• The creamery, the library mall/old main, the HUB, and Allen Street.

Oh I forget about the Monkey Boys… and the Bong Waters… I’m getting a headache just thinking about it! ah the good old days