For someone who presents himself as a pretty laid back guy, Southern Charm’s Shep Rose had a lot of strong opinions about where it was appropriate for fellow cast-member Landon Clements to throw him a birthday party in the show’s second season. Not acceptable? A roller skating rink that doesn’t serve alcohol.
My husband loves roller skating rinks. Moreover, he’s slightly jealous of the male cast-members of Southern Charm who, along with being rich and handsome, are from Charleston, a city that has a healthy rivalry with my husband's native Savannah. We just booked a trip to Charleston at the end of the month. I thought the perfect way to piss my husband off — and trust me, we have a seven-month-old, he deserves it — was to ask Shep for tips on what not to miss in the city.
“I think you’re going to like Charleston way more than Savannah,” Shep told me in the Bravo offices the morning before the third season aired. “It has more vibrancy. There’s just younger, more attractive people in Charleston, if you want to know the truth.”
When asked if he would ever live anywhere else besides Charleston, he responded: “I’ll never leave. It’s in my blood. It’s like that Prince of Tides book by Pat Conroy. I’m serious…”
Shep, as fans of the show know, is not a morning person. But he was perfectly charming at 9:30am. He shared that he recently moved to a beach house on Isle of Palms, a barrier island near the city, and is renting out his downtown home to escape the constant cycle of partying. "The good times were killing me," he said. Him and Landon have not tried to rekindle their awkward romance. He is currently single, and getting “ignored every second” by women in New York.
Below, Shep shares all of the places that he hangs out in Charleston.
Brienne Walsh: Where’s the best place to get coffee?
Shep Rose: The Daily is good – the new place is Mercantile and Mash. I’m not really an early riser, but these are the places I hear people go to.
BW: The best bar?
SR: The Rarebit, which some friends own, and Warehouse, which some friends own. The Alley, a bowling alley and sports bar, which I own a stake in. I also really like Home Team BBQ – they have one out at the beach, which I can take my golf cart to. The barbecue there is really good – and the wings. They have this sauce, it’s called Alabama White sauce. I could drink it.
BW: The best place to throw a birthday party?
SR: The Alley -- a place that serves alcohol for crying out loud.
BW: Where do you take your mom out to dinner?
SR: My parents are obsessed with this place out by the beach called the Long Island Café. It has good fish, and it’s well priced. That’s where we go. Or we go to the staples – Fig, The Ordinary, or Leon’s, which has fried chicken and oysters.
BW: Where do you go to meet the right kind of girl?
SR: I would like you to somehow guide me in that direction. I can’t seem to find her.
BW: The wrong kind of girl?
SR: I seem to meet them a lot.
BW: The place to go when the weather is nice?
SR: There’s this place called Tavern & Table on Shem Creek. There’s a shortage of beach bars. It’s very heavily regulated as far as development. It’s not Myrtle Beach where they sold their soul to the devil. Charleston is very understated.
BW: My husband grew up going to dive bars with his grandfather out on the islands…
SR: Oh yeah, I own one called the Palace Hotel, it’s about to reopen after a fire.
BW: So where do the old geezers go?
SR: A.C.’s Bar and Grill. Also Halls Chophouse. that’s where the divorced 50 something year old guys…
BW: …go trawl for younger women?
SR: Like Thomas! But he’s not divorced, he’s never been married.
BW: Where’s the place you can go to have a shot and disappear?
SR: There’s a place called the Blind Tiger Ale House that’s been around forever. It’s on Broad Street. It’s got this wonderful patio.
BW: Where do you go to meet Craig for a drink?
SR: Nowhere special…I don’t see Craig as much as I honestly wish I did. He’s a domesticated housecat.
BW: If you weren’t the new Prince of Tides, where would you live?
SR: I think I might move to Los Angeles for a month this summer. I’ll rent my beach house, and spend all of the money I make. I love to surf. Whitney lives in Bel Air. I would probably live in Santa Monica.
Southern Charm airs Monday's at 9pm ET on Bravo.
