Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters

Take your next trip with Atlas Obscura!

Our small-group adventures are inspired by our Atlas of the world's most fascinating places, the stories behind them, and the people who bring them to life.

Visit Adventures
Trips Highlight
Puglia Italy - Matera
Italy • 8 days, 7 nights
Southern Italy: Castles, Caves & Coastal Treasures in Puglia
from
Turkmenistan Gates of Hell Darvaza crater
Turkmenistan • 10 days, 9 nights
Turkmenistan & the Gates of Hell
from
View all trips
Top Destinations
Latest Places
Most Popular Places Random Place Lists Itineraries
Add a Place
Download the App
Top Destinations
View All Destinations »

Countries

  • Australia
  • Canada
  • China
  • France
  • Germany
  • India
  • Italy
  • Japan

Cities

  • Amsterdam
  • Barcelona
  • Beijing
  • Berlin
  • Boston
  • Budapest
  • Chicago
  • London
  • Los Angeles
  • Mexico City
  • Montreal
  • Moscow
  • New Orleans
  • New York City
  • Paris
  • Philadelphia
  • Rome
  • San Francisco
  • Seattle
  • Stockholm
  • Tokyo
  • Toronto
  • Vienna
  • Washington, D.C.
Latest Places
View All Places »
Pinal Airpark
Note the chrysanthemum crests.
Hachiman Bridge
Clarendon War Memorial.
Clarendon War Memorial
This fried chicken is one of Bangkok’s most famous.
Gai Tord Jae Kee
Latest Places to Eat & Drink
View All Places to Eat »
Order a flight of infused ya dong shots.
Tep Bar
Thai-Chinese makes up Bangkok’s largest diaspora.
Nai Ek Roll Noodle
This fried chicken is one of Bangkok’s most famous.
Gai Tord Jae Kee
Chefs Aruss Lerlerstkull and Atcharaporn Kiatthanawat lean into regional traditions.
Charmgang
The khao soi at Gedhawa comes with a rich, coconutty broth.
Gedhawa
Recent Stories
All Stories Video Podcast
Most Recent Stories
View All Stories »
Haleakalā National Park’s summit region, shrouded in the pre-dawn fog.
Beware the Legends Behind These National Park Souvenirs
7 days ago
For Aguilar-Carrasco, nature is a powerful reminder of the interconnectedness of all life.
How Can National Parks Be Made Accessible to All? AO Wants to Know.
8 days ago
Podcast: Finding ‘The Great Gatsby’ in Louisville
9 days ago
Here’s which treats you can safely lug home without risking a fine.
Dear Atlas: What International Food Can I Legally Bring Into the U.S.?
10 days ago

No search results found for
“”

Make sure words are spelled correctly.

Try searching for a travel destination.

Places near me Random place

Popular Destinations

  • Paris
  • London
  • New York
  • Berlin
  • Rome
  • Los Angeles
Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Sign In Join
Places near me Random place
All the United States Texas College Station Bottle Cap Alley

Bottle Cap Alley

Decades of discarded bottle caps line this alleyway, a fixture of Texas A&M.

College Station, Texas

Added By
Aaron Netsky
Email
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list
Looking down Bottle Cap Alley   Ed Schipul / CC BY-SA 2.0
Looking down Bottle Cap Alley   Ed Schipul / CC BY-SA 2.0
Bottle Cap Alley   Ed Schipul / CC BY-SA 2.0
Choice of footwear is important   Melanie Applegate/CC BY-ND 2.0
Bottle Cap Alley at night   Jason Eppink/CC BY 2.0
Bottle Cap Alley   Map Data © 2017 Google
  Toriaroscuro / Atlas Obscura User
  Adjuster / Atlas Obscura User
Bottle Cap Alley   jarederdmann / Atlas Obscura User
  Adjuster / Atlas Obscura User
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list

About

In Aggieville’s Northgate neighborhood, on a strip of buildings emulating the Wild West, you better make sure you’re wearing shoes—or better yet, cowboy boots. You're approaching Bottle Cap Alley, a pathway paved with decades of discarded beer (and soda) caps.

Bottle Cap Alley has become an important fixture of Texas A&M University. The strange ritual's origins are not known, but they likely go back at least four decades. It may have started with the adjacent restaurant, The Dixie Chicken, dumping its bottle caps in the alley every night, along with other local bars and restaurants. What better recycling bin is there than an entire street dedicated to bottle caps themselves?

These days, the neighborhood establishments don’t contribute much to Bottle Cap Alley, for various reasons (fewer bottles sold, more environmentally conscious) and drinking outside is also banned there now. Nevertheless, A&M students and grads (aka “Aggies”) save up their own bottle caps and bring them to the alley to keep it fresh. The collection has grown over the years to encompass hundreds of thousands of caps, by some accounts.

However, the numbers may be dwindling. Some people come to visit and take a bottle cap or two away, whether for sentimental reasons or because they are collectors who find interesting caps—Bottle Cap Alley is like a gold mine to the right person. Caps are also stolen by, rumor has it, the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets, who wear the caps as spurs on their boots when their team plays against SMU, a longstanding tradition. 

Fortunately, if you visit, you can help preserve Bottle Cap Alley by making a donation of your own. In fact, after realizing that mostly American beers were represented in the alley, some people made a point to bring caps from imported beers, making it a sort of international bottle cap gallery.

Related Tags

Trash Bottle Art Alleyways Beer Colleges Collections

Know Before You Go

Open footwear is not recommended at Bottle Cap Alley, because of the risk of getting cut. It has also, being an alley, been known to receive donations of various bodily fluids in addition to bottle caps, so whatever footwear one is sporting, vigilance is encouraged.

Community Contributors

Added By

AaronNetsky

Edited By

Mom0ja, lewblank, Toriaroscuro, Adjuster...

  • Mom0ja
  • lewblank
  • Toriaroscuro
  • Adjuster
  • jarederdmann

Published

April 25, 2017

Edit this listing

Make an Edit
Add Photos
Sources
  • https://texags.com/forums/5/topics/1495184
  • http://www.amusingplanet.com/2017/04/the-bottlecap-alley.html
  • http://www.kbtx.com/home/headlines/Aggielands-Most-Famous-Watering-Hole-Turning-40-262969411.html
  • http://susannataliefreeman.com/BottleCapAlley.html
  • http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/22850
  • https://findery.com/mackenziem/notes/bottle-cap-alley
  • http://www.houstonchronicle.com/life/travel/weekend-getaways/article/In-College-Station-find-stadium-history-and-6630654.php
  • https://www.yelp.com/biz/bottle-cap-alley-college-station?hrid=mG5Z_svmxQtXfkatO5yNkw&adjust_creative=yahoo&utm_campaign=yelp_feed&utm_medium=feed_v2&utm_source=yahoo
  • https://texags.com/forums/5/topics/1900496
  • http://www.thebatt.com/bottle-cap-alley-and-the-dixie-chicken/collection_8ff12a78-cbb5-11e5-8610-a70bb2c80b2a.html
Bottle Cap Alley
303 University Drive
College Station, Texas
United States
30.617718, -96.346522
Get Directions

Nearby Places

Century Tree

College Station, Texas

miles away

Reveille Mascot Cemetery

College Station, Texas

miles away

Grave in the Road

Hearne, Texas

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of College Station

College Station

Texas

Places 3

Nearby Places

Century Tree

College Station, Texas

miles away

Reveille Mascot Cemetery

College Station, Texas

miles away

Grave in the Road

Hearne, Texas

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of College Station

College Station

Texas

Places 3

Related Places

  • Steins Unlimited

    Pamplin, Virginia

    Steins Unlimited

    One man's lifelong collection of 10,000 rare steins tells the story of beer drinking from 1350 to today.

  • BOA museum.

    London, England

    British Optical Association Museum

    The world's oldest optical museum is an odd collection where the exhibits look at you.

  • The exhibits at John’s Beachcombing Museum.

    Forks, Washington

    John's Beachcombing Museum

    One man's eclectic collection of treasures found at sea.

  • The Ecological Bottle House.

    Puerto Iguazú, Argentina

    Ecological Plastic Bottle House

    One family's mission to exemplify sustainability took on a whole new life as a surprisingly beautiful home.

  • Early tavern signs at the Connecticut Historical Society.

    Hartford, Connecticut

    Colonial America Tavern Signs Collection

    The early American colonists were such ferocious drinkers the law actually required every town to have a tavern.

  • Copenhagen, Denmark

    Leif Sonne's Bottled Beer Collection

    The largest bottled beer collection in the world holds over 22,000 unique beer bottles.

  • Ganja, Azerbaijan

    Bottle House of Ganja

    A quirky house created entirely out of glass bottles combines a collector's spirit with an artist's flair.

  • Oro Grande, California

    Elmer Long's Bottle Tree Ranch

    Hundreds of trees made from glass bottles make up this forest on Route 66.

Aerial image of Vietnam, displaying the picturesque rice terraces, characterized by their layered, verdant fields.
Atlas Obscura Membership

Become an Atlas Obscura Member


Join our community of curious explorers.

Become a Member

Get Our Email Newsletter

Follow Us

Facebook YouTube TikTok Instagram Pinterest RSS Feed

Get the app

Download the App
Download on the Apple App Store Get it on Google Play
  • All Places
  • Latest Places
  • Most Popular
  • Places to Eat
  • Random
  • Nearby
  • Add a Place
  • Stories
  • Food & Drink
  • Itineraries
  • Lists
  • Video
  • Podcast
  • Newsletters
  • All Trips
  • Family Trip
  • Food & Drink
  • History & Culture
  • Wildlife & Nature
  • FAQ
  • Membership
  • Feedback & Ideas
  • Community Guidelines
  • Product Blog
  • Unique Gifts
  • Work With Us
  • About
  • FAQ
  • Advertise With Us
  • Advertising Guidelines
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of Use
Atlas Obscura

© 2025 Atlas Obscura. All Rights Reserved.