{"id":115219,"date":"2026-02-16T13:40:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T13:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/115219\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T13:40:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T13:40:11","slug":"its-a-special-moment-how-pitt-students-are-celebrating-their-21st-birthdays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/115219\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s a special moment\u2019: How Pitt students are celebrating their 21st birthdays"},"content":{"rendered":"

Each semester, a new batch of 21-year-olds is able to drink legally and celebrate at Oakland\u2019s local bars.
Pitt has many 21st birthday traditions, ranging from a first visit to Hemingway\u2019s Cafe<\/a> to a free koozie at Gene\u2019s Place<\/a>. Whether they\u2019re going out with friends or throwing a house party, students are celebrating their 21st birthdays with enthusiasm.<\/p>\n

Mariya Dempsey, a junior English writing major, turned 21 during Winter Storm Fern<\/a> on Jan. 25. However, the 11 inches<\/a> of snow didn\u2019t stop her birthday festivities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a \u2018Euphoria\u2019 themed birthday party at my apartment,\u201d Dempsey said. \u201cAfter that, we went to a Carnegie Mellon white boy wasted party. It was really fun \u2014 I drank a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dempsey is excited to go to 21-plus spaces.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes me feel really grown up to get carded,\u201d Dempsey said. \u201cI\u2019m excited if I go to a restaurant, and if [a drink] is alcoholic, I can have it. I also want to go to a speakeasy and a jazz club.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amelia Stilley, a junior communications and public and professional writing major, is looking forward to her birthday on March 7. She is having a joint birthday party with her friend, who turns 21 the week before.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be Vegas themed,\u201d Stilley said. \u201cI\u2019m really excited. One of our friends is doing a whole banner. We\u2019re getting fun gold, red and black dresses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Owen Grimaldi, a sophomore Japanese and finance major, turned 21 on June 12. However, Grimaldi doesn\u2019t view turning 21 as a big deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing 21 is not really momentous,\u201d Grimaldi said. \u201cIt\u2019s only momentous if you like alcohol or illicit drugs. Other than that, being 21 is the same thing as being 18, except you have more responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grimaldi still celebrated his 21st birthday at Hemingway\u2019s, a local bar, with friends. According to John Elavsky, owner of Hemingway\u2019s, many people go to the bar when they turn 21 and buy the \u201cI think I spent my 21st birthday at Hemingway\u2019s\u201d shirt.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d have stacks of birthday shirts \u2014 we went through a lot,\u201d Elavsky said. \u201cBeer companies would help us out and brand the shirts with Miller Light or IC Light or Coors Light. That was our little claim to fame.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hemingway\u2019s will be closing its doors<\/a> on May 3. After announcing the bar\u2019s closure, many people reached out to tell Elavsky about pivotal moments they celebrated there, including turning 21. According to Elavsky, going to Hemingway\u2019s for the first time is a special moment for many students.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe heavily carded,\u201d Elavsky said. \u201cMy people at the door did a heck of a job carding for years. One of the reasons we did well on 21st birthdays is because it meant something to get into Hemingway\u2019s on your 21st. Kids couldn\u2019t wait to be 21 so they could come in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many 21 year olds also spend their birthday at Gene\u2019s Place<\/a>, another popular Oakland bar. According to Gene Ney, owner of Gene\u2019s, a few 21 year olds come in every night of the week to celebrate their birthday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want to be a drinker, you\u2019ll come out for your 21st birthday,\u201d Ney said. \u201cIt\u2019s a very special moment when you can now become legal and get served.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Ney, Gene\u2019s gives out free koozies and rubber bracelets for 21st birthdays. However, this wasn\u2019t always the only birthday tradition at the bar.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe used to have what we called \u2018the birthday shot\u2019,\u201d Ney said. \u201cWe don\u2019t do that anymore because it didn\u2019t taste very good, and people didn\u2019t want to come back, but some people still order them.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is one 21st birthday Pitt tradition Ney witnesses but doesn\u2019t understand \u2014 pre-gaming<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been times when people have gotten here to celebrate their birthday, they\u2019ve had too much to drink and we\u2019ve had to turn them away,\u201d Ney said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t make any sense to me \u2014 the very first night you can legally go out and drink \u2014 why you\u2019re pre-gaming before you go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students aren\u2019t the only ones who experience a special moment during their first legal drink, according to Ney.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I\u2019m bartending and somebody comes in to celebrate their 21st birthday, for me, it\u2019s a special moment too because it\u2019s a turning point in their life, and I\u2019ve been a part of that,\u201d Ney said. \u201cWe wish everybody a very safe 21st birthday.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Each semester, a new batch of 21-year-olds is able to drink legally and celebrate at Oakland\u2019s local bars.Pitt…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115220,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[54814,54815,54816,54817,41237,73,75,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-115219","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh","8":"tag-21st-birthdays","9":"tag-beer-and-wine","10":"tag-beer-and-wine-2026","11":"tag-genes-place","12":"tag-hemingways","13":"tag-pittsburgh","14":"tag-pittsburgh-headlines","15":"tag-pittsburgh-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}