Last Friday night, we here at Monkeywhale bid a sad, but glorious, adieu to one of our favorite downtown haunts, Solaris.  Full disclosure:  Christian Reynolds and I were classmates at Guilford College and I was there when he and his lovely wife Courtney opened the restaurant almost seven years ago.  Since then we’ve had the good fortune of attending all sorts of fun events there from wedding receptions, to art openings, to birthday gatherings to murder mystery dinners to late night throw downs to most recently the opening night of Save the Monkeywhale Festival 2009.  Christian and Courtney have worked tirelessly over the years to provide a good-looking, good-feeling place with very tasty food and drinks (might I say the Solaris crew had perfected the infamous “Tantric ‘tini”) as well as being huge supporters of local art, music, performance and everything in between.  Everyone was welcome at Solaris and indeed all sorts of people came out from all corners of the city on a regular basis whether it be the late night club kids or the downtown suits or the hipster musicians or the fetish performers or the retirees enjoying an early dinner.  Solaris had something for everyone and it continued to keep things interesting in a city where sometimes people don’t like to mix it up too much.

The Final Solaris Night Blowout was huge.  HUGE.  It seemed like everyone who had ever set foot in the place came out for one last night of fun and attempted to help the Solaris crew finish off every last bit of booze that could be found.  Maybe it was the $3 drinks, but there was definitely a feeling of celebration in the air. A better party could not have been had to thank some very hard-working people who brought something new and interesting to downtown Greensboro before a lot of people thought it could work. lt is with great sorrow, but lots of love, that we wish Christian and Courtney all the best in their upcoming endeavors which are sure to be great. Here are some photos from an evening and a place which will not be forgotten.  Many more photos can be seen on our flickr page.