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East Nashville’s New Y2K Bar Is the Bedroom Its Founder Always Wanted
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Star Sixty Seven brings the early 2000s to Gallatin Avenue with a LimeWire margarita, a DJ spinning DJ hits, and items you haven't seen in over 20 years.
When Lexy Burke decided to open a theater, she decided to get the downstairs bar going first. That empty space gave her a room to do something she’d wanted to do since she was a kid.
“I just wanted to create the bedroom I never had growing up,” Burke said.
That room became Star Sixty Seven, an early-2000s-themed bar at 2512 Gallatin Ave. in East Nashville. Burke, the bar’s founder and owner, spent months collecting furniture and going through belongings she’d held onto for years. She wanted a concept she could design herself, and the decade she grew up in gave her plenty to work with.
“I lived it!” she said.
From Britney to the Disney Channel years
Ask Burke to pick a favorite icon from the 2000s and she’ll first want to know which part of the decade you mean. The early years belonged to Britney Spears, NSYNC, Jessica Simpson and Christina Aguilera. By middle school, she was watching Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez on Disney Channel.
Burke, however, landed on a three-way tie of her favorites between Hilary Duff, Paris Hilton and Spears. “It’s the blondes,” she joked, recalling that she used to experience the 2000s frosted look, just like everyone else.
The way Burke remembers those years has as much to do with how life felt then, as opposed to the fast world we are currently living in now. She pointed to the pressure your 20s and 30s can cause, when work and life milestones can make it feel like there’s always something else to get done. Revisiting the music and pop culture she grew up with gives her a chance to slow down.
She is hoping it will do the same for you.
“The world is moving so quick nowadays,” Burke said. “To just reminisce on the good, easy times is something we’re all craving always.”
A LimeWire margarita and a cocktail that crackles
The menu options are nothing short of nostalgic. The LimeWire is a margarita named after the file-sharing service (You know the one!) The Laguna Beach is a fruity rum cocktail with blue curaçao.
The bar’s signature Star Sixty Seven pairs vodka with Pop Rocks for what Burke calls “a little Pop Rocks ASMR.”
There’s also a whiskey cocktail called the Blackberry, which Burke points to for visitors who want to order whiskey while they’re in Tennessee.
The 16 and Pregnant mocktail definitely takes the win for most creative name.
A Collection of Items for 2000s Super-fans
The HitClips at Star Sixty Seven came from Burke’s own collection. So did the hair crimper, the old laptop, a few DVDs and a pair of Chanel earrings she remembers wearing nearly every day in seventh grade.
Friends helped fill out the collection, contributing items like iPods and other notable Y2K items. Burke had kept some of her copies of Seventeen Magazine and went to eBay for others. Flipping through the magazines brought her back to summer camp, where she’d pack about three issues for the month and reread the same stories at night. When she opened some of those issues again while putting the bar together, she still remembered the articles, including one about how to get the cute guy in class.
The bar downstairs and the theater still to come
Burke describes the theater upstairs as a long-term project. Downstairs, she’s already thought about what she wants a night at Star Sixty Seven to feel like. She had sports bars in mind when she talked about how nightlife spaces can cater to a particular crowd. But she felt a certain demographic would enjoy something like this, from what is currently available.
For her own bar, she wanted the warmth of a room where people could settle in and feel at home.
“I just want them to feel comfortable,” Burke said. “I want them to feel at home. I want them to feel like they’re in their bedroom finally being able to legally drink.”
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