Where will all the regulars go when Manuel’s Tavern closes Dec. 27?

Manuel's Tavern — You have until midnight Dec. 27 to soak up the historic atmosphere of the granddaddy of all Atlanta bar culture. 602 N. Highland Ave. N.E., Atlanta. 404-525-3447, manuelstavern.com.

Moe's & Joe's Tavern — Expanded in 2014, but still the same classic Atlanta watering hole, where Pabst Blue Ribbon has been flowing since 1947. 1033 N. Highland Ave., Atlanta. 404-873-6090, moesandjoes.com.

North Highland Pub — Another burger and beer haunt just up the street from Manuel's that's quite cozy and a good place to watch a game. 469 N. Highland Ave. N.E., Atlanta. 404-522-4600, northhighlandpub.com.

“Everybody wants to be special here. They call your name out loud and clear,” is the way rocker Paul Westerberg put it in the refrain of his bittersweet ode to the drinking life, “Here Comes a Regular.”

At Manuel’s Tavern one recent Tuesday night, there was no music. Only the usual welcoming din of lively conversation echoing through the well-worn rooms of the historic Poncey-Highland bar and restaurant.

But Westerberg’s song could have been on repeat play, as clannish throngs of regulars crowded in to greet one another, remember the good times, mourn a little, and wonder what the future might bring.

When it will reopen is up for speculation, which is especially intense among die-hard customers, who have burnished the barstools and booths over the years and decades since 1956, when the late Manuel Maloof bought Harry’s Delicatessen and turned it into his vision of an old world tavern.

One person who plans to stick close in the coming months is the Manuel’s heir and owner, Brian Maloof.

And what about those people? Manuel’s is often described as a home-away-from-home for politicos, reporters and neighborhood residents. But doctors, plumbers, students and retirees rub elbows here, too, Maloof likes to point out. Where will they all go now?

“Part of my job is to make sure they don’t wear a new groove in a barstool somewhere else,” Maloof said. “Another reason for me being here is to make sure we finish on time or ahead of time. My goal is to have all the employees and customers back home just as soon as possible. I’m hoping mid-April.”

Bobby Agee has been working at Manuel’s for 39 years and nine months, he declared, delivering a beer across the bar. “I’ve seen a lot of regulars, and a lot of my regulars have passed on,” Agee said. “I’m not sure where the current regulars are going to go now. Maybe up the street to North Highland Pub?”

Asked what he planned to do while the renovations were taking place, he said he’d been talking with his wife about traveling. “We may go down to Florida, while it’s cold up here. And we may go to the Grand Canyon after that.”

Down the bar rail, Sara Fountain, who was sipping a beer and reading the paper, said she’d been living in Atlanta since the early 1970s, and coming to Manuel’s almost as long.

“Manuel (Maloof) was one of the first people I met when I moved here from Savannah,” Fountain said. “This is the one place that you kind of call home. You don’t think of it as going out to drink. You just come here to be with your friends. There is no other ‘here’ for me. Nowhere else to go. I’m going to be counting the days and checking on the progress until it opens again.”

Alone in a window booth, law student Darlene Childers was perched behind a laptop, with a stack of case notes and a cup of coffee, getting ready to take a final exam.

“I’ve only been coming here since I started law school at Georgia State,” Childers said. “But I walked in the door that first day and knew immediately that this was my place, and I haven’t gone anywhere else since. I’m going to cry when it closes. I have nowhere else to go. I’ve scouted out a few places, and none of them are up to par.”

At the other end of the bar, DeKalb County attorney Kendric Smith and retired Atlanta Judge Andy Mickle were among a group gathering to watch the Republican presidential candidates debate on TV. But Manuel’s closing was on their minds, too.

“I’ve been feeling the withdrawal for a long time, because we’ve known about it for a long time,” Smith said. “Now that it’s getting closer, I’m going to have to clean up my living room so I can sit and drink and watch TV at home. But I plan to be dry in January. I need to lose some weight, and that’s a good way to do it.”

Unlike many of his longtime cohorts, judge Mickle seemed to be taking the prospect of time off from Manuel’s in stride. “I’ve been coming here since 1985,” he said. “But judges retired and not retired have plenty of bars to go to. Virginia-Highland has the Highland Tap, Fontaine’s and Moe’s and Joe’s. North Highland Pub is a weekend haunt. I have no shortage of places.”

Molly Gunn, who lives in the neighborhood and is the co-owner of the Porter Beer Bar in Little Five Points, often sneaks off to Manuel’s to drink a beer and play pinball. Gunn said she will miss doing that. But not as much as she will miss the essence of the bar.

“So I will have to go to Joystick now to play pinball,” Gunn said. “But luckily there are so many other great drinking options in my ‘hood. I think the Yacht Club has somewhat of a similar vibe and selection. They have tons of regulars and are very much a neighborhood bar.

“It is so incredibly hard to describe what we are losing with the closing of Manuel’s. There’s this smell when you walk into the double set of doors. It’s one of those unreplicable smells of age. Old beer, ancient wood covered in layers and layers of cigarette smoke, but not decay. Manuel’s is an indelible part of Atlanta bar culture.”