Oct 16, 20202 min read

Our Bar ATL: Meet Our Marcus & His "PhotoRiot!" Brand

One year ago, we had a private Friendsgiving party with our friends, family, and loved ones of Our Bar ATL. That day, we all signed the walls of our bathrooms with messages of support, love, and friendship. One year later, we're still here stronger than ever with new and bigger dreams.

Walk into our bathrooms now and you'll find we started anew with a fresh coat of paint. Looking back on the hardships and triumphs of yesteryear, our "Off The Wall" Hoodie captures that picture-perfect moment one year ago when we signed the walls with such hopeful hearts.

"For last year’s words belong to last year’s language. And next year’s words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning." – T.S. Eliot

Like most ideas at Our Bar ATL, the "Off The Wall" Hoodie is the brilliant brainchild of one of our amazingly creative friends. His ingenuity and creative soul fuels his desire to connect people in small spaces by giving them a memorable keepsake. It ties in beautifully with Our Bar ATL's fervent emphasis on keeping things local, thriving, and comfortable.

Marcus' Story

When you come inside Our Bar ATL, you might notice an artsy photobooth by the kitchen. It's actually the beautiful end result of a long-in-the-making collaboration between two tremendously talented Atlanta creatives and our friends, Marcus Tanner x Dr.Dax.

We met Marcus roughly 6 years ago when he came to barback at the bar we all once worked at together - but he's always been an artist who just happened to work as a barback. One day, he got a point & shoot camera from a pawn shop and started taking photos of the regulars at the bar. That eventually evolved into an IG series called #DeptStories that became well-known for its blue and yellow backdropped portraits.

In 2015, Dr.Dax happened to have a photobooth that he would then give away to Marcus. Fast forward to 2020, and Marcus came to have 13 photobooths with his PhotoRiot! brand across Atlanta and Athens. Early this year, Our Bar ATL became home to his 14th photobooth and also the first one with Dr.Dax's custom artwork.

“Creativity is a drug I cannot live without.” – Cecil B. DeMille

Marcus has always believed that many of the night's great moments happen in bar bathrooms - such as ours. During our private Friendsgiving party in 2019, that was certainly the case as our friends and family signed our bathrooms and laid the spiritual and emotional foundation of our future successes.

The "Off The Wall" Hoodie is to not only celebrate that hopeful moment in time but also to recognize that we're no longer who we were a year ago. We've changed - our very cells are brimming with new energy and new dreams - and we wanted to let the world know that.