Broadway Mornings

I hate Broadway. I hate the traffic, the crazy bachelorette parties, and the fact that I have to be so much more aware of my surroundings than I would have to be anywhere else. I just don’t like going downtown.

Every day, hundreds (if not thousands) of people flock to Nashville. All of us have seen it: the party buses with drunk bachelorette parties dancing, standing room only bars, and insane traffic fill Broadway nights as bands try to make their living. The streets are crowded with people of all ages looking for a good time, but this often gets out of hand. Broadway is so crazy that businesses on the street have called for (and succeeded in gaining) an increased police presence. Broadway literally has its own police station.

However, Broadway is not always as crazy as we normally see it.

There is a song by Country Music Hall of Fame member Bill Anderson called “Bright Lights and Country Music,” which is about going downtown to drink away the pain of being broken up with. In the early morning, though, Broadway has none of that: (almost) no bright lights, no country music, and no people hoping to drink their troubles away.

The most popular places on Broadway are bare. Popular bars like Tootsie’s, Rippy’s, and Kid Rock’s were completely empty. Hattie B’s, which normally has a line wrapped around the building, felt abandoned. Empty barstools lined the normally overcrowded bars, and silence filled the deserted streets. This is the side of Broadway that we never see, and there is a special kind of beauty to it. So many colors fill the sky when the sun rises but are nearly impossible to see when the sun sets. The empty streets reflect the lights in ways that you cannot see during crowded nights. You can actually see the street.

However, if there is beauty in the quiet, empty mornings, there must be some beauty in the craziness that we are all so used to avoiding. On Broadway, people are able to come together in ways that we would not expect, both in entertainment and in life. People are able to get together to cheer on their favorite sports teams, drink to celebrate a win or drink off a loss. Bands, like bartenders, are able to make their living due to the generosity of strangers tipping, and regulars are able to support their favorite bands. Most importantly, people come together to help the people around them. Through Broadway, one bartender was able to help a man who had lost his job (and in time his home) due to heart issues. There is beauty in the insanity of Broadway, we sometimes just have to look for it.

So, when I say I hate Broadway, I hate that the craziness that we expect on Broadway has kept me from seeing how beautiful the street can truly be when most people aren’t looking. It is hard to see the beauty from the middle of the insanity, but it can be truly amazing from the outside looking in.

See the photos that go with this article.