Unfathomable

tarheelbillie said:
But illegal was double the fun!
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I can’t count how many fake IDs I kept in my 2 decades plus tending bar.

I only used one once - I was 17 and in Raleigh - Mitch’s Tavern.

By the time I arrived as a freshman at Carolina I was 18.

The Orientation Counselors rounded up all the news guys in the dorm (Everett) and marched us straight to Kirkpatrick’s.

Freshmen all arrived a week before everyone else in those days. There were keg parties galore in the afternoons and then Franklin St. at night.
 
donbosco said:
I can’t count how many fake IDs I kept in my 2 decades plus tending bar.

I only used one once - I was 17 and in Raleigh - Mitch’s Tavern.

By the time I arrived as a freshman at Carolina I was 18.

The Orientation Counselors rounded up all the news guys in the dorm (Everett) and marched us straight to Kirkpatrick’s.

Freshmen all arrived a week before everyone else in those days. There were keg parties galore in the afternoons and then Franklin St. at night.
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Don I was at the Mule tonight and a few undergrads were trying to pass off a picture on their phone that said how old they were! The bartender’s said they’re going to need a hard copy! Different times for sure but still nuanced.
 
donbosco said:
Going to college and not being able to enjoy a legal alcoholic beverage until my junior year.
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I was in the same boat. I graduated HS when I was 17.

That didn't stop me from drinking, however. Was probably easier to get alcohol, underage, in the 90s.

When I did turn 21, it was fairly uneventful.

I was the second to last member of my friend group to turn 21. In order to get the youngest a fake ID, I took him to the DMV and requested an ID card ..not a license. When they called my name to take a picture, he went in my place, so the pic on the ID was literally him.
 
In 1984, lots of 18 and 19 year-olds voted for Jesse Helms for US Senate because Jim Hunt had been instrumental in North Carolina raising the drinking age for beer and wine from 18 years to 19 years in 1983.

Most didn’t know that Senator No, also known as Mr. States’ Rights, had helped pass a federal law requiring states to raise the drinking age to 21 across the board by year X (1986, IIRC) or lose 5-10% of federal highway funds.
 
Once I was tending bar at The Cave and I took a real ID from a guy -- it just wasn't him. The height on the license was off but the photo was a fairly good resemblance. Put it in the box where we kept them. We'd turn them in to the ALE agent once we had a few.

Pretty coincidentally I was working a couple of days later...just the beginning of the late shift so it was still pretty early. A woman comes in and says that we took an ID from her son and she wanted it back...I asked a few questions...when, what was the name...and fished it out of the box. I held it up for her and she said that yes, that was the one. I told her that no...she couldn't have it back as we turned them into the ALE. She got pretty irate...Karen-ing before the term existed...Got really pissed off. She said that the license belonged to her older son, which would explain why the illegal kid looked right much like the photograph. She eventually left after being firmly told to leave. Mommas.
 
Zoo_View said:
In 1984, lots of 18 and 19 year-olds voted for Jesse Helms for US Senate because Jim Hunt had been instrumental in North Carolina raising the drinking age for beer and wine from 18 years to 19 years in 1983.

Most didn’t know that Senator No, also known as Mr. States’ Rights, had helped pass a federal law requiring states to raise the drinking age to 21 across the board by year X (1986, IIRC) or lose 5-10% of federal highway funds.
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I remember it well. To this day, I do not understand why they raised the drinking age from 18 to 21 on November 1st in NC. What is the MOST popular date for a college party? It's not Christmas or New Years as students are on break. How about something smack-dab in the middle of the fall semester that requires everyone to dress-up and act crazy, and which Chapel Hill is known for throwing the state's best event that night? Does Halloween ring a bell?

My girlfriend at the time was the first manager of Johnny T-Shirt (R.I.P. Chuck), and as we were carousing on Franklin Street, we noticed someone break the front window of JTS and try to crawl in. We get there, kick them out, and then board up the window and spent the rest of the night there protecting the store. My first experience with a near riot. And we missed a hellacious party, lol.
 
Some clarification...NC raised the drinking age from 18 to 19 for beer and wine in 1983...I was tending bar in Blowing Rock at the time and my girlfriend had to sit out two months (the change went down on October 1 and her birthday was November 30) of bar drinking. You had to be 21 to drink liquor at the time. https://www.ncleg.net/enactedlegislation/sessionlaws/html/1983-1984/sl1983-435.html


DrinkingAge1983.jpeg


In 1986 the change (19 to 21 for all alcohol) occurred on August 31...this was tied into the Federal Funding mentioned (Same girlfriend got caught in that one for almost 3 months too). I was tending bar at Tijuana Fats on Rosemary Street then and it didn't really make much difference to our business -- our drinkers were older. Chapel Hill went nuts over that and there was a mini-riot on Franklin Street. Damage was done to businesses like Subway and Johnny T-Shirt.

DrinkingAge1986.jpeg



The clip from the DTH above is a bit surreal. It has a quote from a Clyde, NC freshman named Wendell Williamson. IYKYK.
 
My brother started college in 1983. The legal age started moving towards 21, but it went in steps. Like 19 was legal for a while, then 21 (iirc). So he was legal, then he wasn’t.
He is an artist and made some good money painting on top of the drivers licenses new birthdates (just changing the year).
You couldn’t tell unless you turned the ID on its edge and looked at it that way.
 
I don’t remember if it was 1983 or if it was later; but, two enterprising ncsulol students broke into a DMV warehouse in West Raleigh. They stole a machine that makes drivers’ licenses (lamination-included), a camera, the red fabric that is the background of the license photo, and anything else needed to produce a legitimate-looking North Carolina Driver’s License.

They then set up in their dorm room making legitimate-looking, but illegal drivers’ licenses. IIRC, they were only charging $10-20 per license. They did this for 1-2 years.

All went well until a Raleigh coed was pulled over and she handed the officer the wrong license.

Remember a time when “North Carolina” was printed in lightly-colored gold ink all over the laminating plastic of the Driver’s License? The printing was more or less visible as you moved the license around and caught different light.

The gold print was because of those two ncsulol students.

Think back to 1983-86 or so……..North Carolina Drivers’ Licenses had either blue, yellow, or red backgrounds (red was for age 21 or older, and one of blue or yellow was for age 19-20 and the other for age 16-18). Prior to that era, everyone had a red background regardless of age. The idea for the different background colors was ostensibly to make it easier see if someone was old enough to buy alcohol.
 
When I was in the Army in Germany, ration cards were issued for three items:
1) Cigarettes: I didn't smoke. So, it was a personal point of pride with me not to give away or sell my cigarette rations to anyone. Had to be 18 to get a cigarette ration card. Eventually I learned that pretty much all the people who were hitting me up to give them my cigarette rations were actually selling American cigarettes to German for an incredible mark-up, that was still cheaper than German cigarettes. IIRC, American cigarettes had a certain cachet for young Germans. It was explained me that I was incredibly stupid for not taking advantage of easy money. That just cemented my feelings about leaving my month cigarette ration unused every month.
2) Hard Liquor and Wine: While I did drink, I never even came close using up my liquor ration. I distinctly remember thinking that anyone who drank up (as opposed to selling to Germans) their entire liquor ration had a BIG problem. I also remember how when the First Sergeant would hand out the ration cards every month, he would carefully cut-up the hard liquor ration card for anyone under 21. And for the very few guys under 18, he would cut up the cigarette, wine, and hard liquor ration cards. When a married soldier who was accompanied by his wife would invite me over to supper, I would always bring a bottle of wine and some flowers for the wife. Once that habit got around, my invitations for a home cooked meal showed a notable increase.
3) Gasoline: If you owned a car, you got a gasoline ration card that allowed you purchase gasoline at US military stations for the same price as in the United State, which was way lower than German price of gas. It also let you purchase gasoline at ESSO gasoline stations not affiliated with the military at a reduced price., but higher than the US price. But this was only a limited amount. I only used that a couple of times, like when I drove to somewhere in France. Nobody ever sold these ESSO gasoline coupons to Germans because they were just too valuable and could be traced back to the seller.
 
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