As Queen Autumn revealed in a eulogy on her blog today, Max's Tavern, infamous among Eugene barhoppers, recently closed down. Currently, the windows are covered in newspaper and the building is serious need of repair. It may be gone forever.

Max's was more than a dive bar. Like many characters and businesses around Eugene, it was rumored to inspire Matt Groening. Max's shared many common traits with its alleged cartoon off-shot, Moe's Tavern. A long mirror ran down the length of the bar, the pool table was in the same spot and it certainly had plenty of "dank." The names of hundreds of patrons were carved into the booths and scribbled on the walls in a pair of bathrooms which make the one in Trainspotting look spotless.

I wasn't the devotee that many were. While I tried, I never managed to attended one of the bar's St. Patrick's Day shindigs and never witnessed any nude motorcyclists cruising through. Nevertheless, Max's provided me with a few found, dumb memories. The bar was the first I ever drank in and the staff served me one day while I was covered in fake stage blood without raising an eyebrow. My sister, on her 21st birthday, was so horrified by the Animal House ambiance and the rowdy crowd that she refused to touch her Guinness.

Max's provided at least 4 decades worth of UO undergrads with anecdotes and, for at least a portion of that time, it was the only bar near campus. Unlike the frat-dominated bars up 13th, it truly was a place were everyone, young, old and stinky was welcome. Hopefully, Max's isn't destined for the same fate as the late-great Clancy Thurber's.