Monday, July 30, 2012

The Spot Closing Its Doors

If you're a fan of The Spot, at 4437 N Broadway, we recommend getting over there quick to enjoy a meal, a drink or a show.  Wednesday will be their last day of business.

Tuesday, there'll be a performance from Pat McCurdy, 9pm-1am.

Wednesday, there'll be karaoke from 9pm-2am.

It's with deep sadness we say farewell.  Good luck to Brian and the staff, who've given us a lot of fond memories, and a couple hangovers, too.  It's been a hoot.

31 comments:

  1. That is a tragedy. Uptown will be loosing another great business on a street that has gradually been seeing improvement.

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  2. A tragedy crash86 is 9/11 bombing of pearl harbor, aurora colorado, this is sad. That's the difference

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  3. Closing for good? Or closing for remodeling???

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  4. That place was not that great. I was cheering for them, but I rarely went there.

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  5. I'm not being a jerk the dean look up the word tragedy and get back to me have a nice day:)

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  6. I stopped going there when we went on a Sunday for 1/2 price menu items and they were "out" of the first 3 things we ordered.

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  7. That sucks! No more Packer bar for the 2012-13 football season! (and go for the hater Bears fan out there!)

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  8. Yeah, I wanted them to be successful, but their food was just not good. I think they really tried to make up for it with the drinks. Too bad, but not a tragedy, in of course, the strictest sense of the word for those word nerds among us.

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  9. I actually think it's a good thing. The Spot was a dive bar with bad food and worse service. Good ridance. Hopefully we'll get another great joint like Fat Cat.

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    1. And what's wrong with dive bars. They ain't going nowhere

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  10. Better gone then here. Lets hope we get a better replacement....

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  11. This is a drag.... though I give a rats ass about football, the Packers' sundays there were epic! Sad to see it go.

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  12. Irish-Like FTW...I know it's popular to be a booster for all things local Uptown but this place just wasn't that great....same can be said for most places that are closing/moving.

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  13. Maybe four corners tavern will open a location here.

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  14. Can I still get my free party?

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  15. Why are they closing...

    I thought they were always busy.

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  16. Trashing a bar that brought people to the neighborhood for years is just bitchy and unnecessary. They had huge crowds there every Sunday during football season and many nights as well. They did a lot of sponsorship of sports teams and local theater, too.

    Unlike the Fat Cat, I never had bad service at the Spot. I have walked out of Fat Cat on numerous occasions because I sat for 10+ minutes with no server even noticing me.

    They weren't a perfect business, but no business is. They managed to outlast most new restaurants/bars, and their closing will be a loss to the neighborhood.

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  17. Yes, let’s all trash the Spot. What fun! What better way to encourage someone to open their own business than to mock the one before it that failed. In case any of you have not been paying attention; it’s hard out here. People do not have the cash to spend like they did years ago. The only issue is that our good friend Uncle Sam does not care.

    The taxes keep going up and that is a bill that MUST be paid. In this economy, most places (including mine) are down about 50%. All we can do is to keep doing it and hope it gets better. The killer is that even though we are taking in less money, the bills keep going up. There are things we cannot cut back on. Gas, electric, phone; must be paid. Property TAX, income TAX, Sales TAX… must be paid.

    The working people are the ones paying for everything. Police, fire, trash pickup, road repair and public housing. Who do you think is paying for all of this? Anyone with a J O B. The great Bush/Obama has only increased the burden on the working man while allowing others to retire young. If this is the change we got, please kindly shove it where the sun don’t shine. And no… I am not a Romney fan either.

    Now let’s take a look at Brian. He took a struggling idea over from Frankie J. He made it work for 7 more years. Try it yourself. Most restaurants fail in the first two years. He made it seven. Irish Pirate said “That place was not that great. I was cheering for them, but I rarely went there”. Cheering for them may be fun, but this is not the Cubs. You don’t cheer for a business, you patronize it. William, you went there for a half price meal and they were out of the first 3 things you ordered. It’s a half price meal. Try and get a half price meal at Gibson’s then complain. Anthony Ponchelle, Nickey Scarfono, you say good riddance and hope to get another great joint like Fat Cat. Why would anybody want to follow in Brian’s footsteps? My hope is that the place is not vacant forever. Turbo, did you find that shot at getting your free party funny? Really? Do you think a guy could have done more to get people to try his establishment? Maybe pay you to drink there? Walk your dog? Visit your mom? What?

    The only way to look at this is that this is sad. A lot of people lost their jobs. Sad. A man with a family and kids lost his business. Sad. Uptown got another vacant storefront. Sad.

    You think you got a better idea? I have the building owner’s phone number. Go ahead if you really think it’s so easy.

    I am his neighbor. I am his friend. I am the Chamber President. Whatever he was doing is going to be better than having a vacant storefront.

    Paul Collurafici

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  18. Paul: well said. Brian and the staff at The Spot were wonderful to our softball team since we began being sponsored by them in 2007. I am sad to see them go.

    Aside from the great times, the delicious sarsaparilla shot is its finest legacy. I'll tip a few back for you all.

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  19. Paul,

    First, there can be only one IrishPirate. That's me. The other "Irish-Like Pirate" is arguably the most annoying person who posts here.

    That's saying a whole lot. He was running for alderman for about a week or two back in 2010 or so. He loves Ron Paul yet works as an attorney for da city. Go figure.

    Give him a month or so and he'll change his nom de guerre to something even more lame. It fits his pattern. Hopefully, he won't start calling himself "Coo Coo for Tattoos" for your sake.

    Second, considering the amount of TIF money your little business received for moving across the street forgive me if I don't shed any tears for you. Also your years of having your nose firmly planted on the former alderman's posterior doesn't exactly make you my favorite person. Sure, I like you more than the "Irish-like Pirate" but that ain't sayin' much.

    Now I wish The Spot had survived, but as you said the restaurant business is brutal. I think one of the problems there was the location. It would have been better situated further north on Broadway where the restaurants and clubs dominate around Lawrence.

    Just like the Holiday Club and Nick's Uptown feed off each other and bring in larger crowds a group of restaurants can do the same thing. That location is a bit forlorn for a single restaurant to survive.

    Most businesses aren't down fifty percent. Now the tattoo business may be down that much given that it's a discretionary item, but if most businesses were down fifty percent people would be selling apples and pencils on the street.

    Now the business I'm in, which doesn't involve discretionary body art or discretionary meals/alcohol is doing well. This may be our best year in over twenty years. It was certainly a good first half of the year.

    One thing I've learned in five decades of life is that business people always complain. Taxes are too high, employees are tough to manage, business is down, etc etc etc.

    Sometimes that's true, but I've often heard it from guys with high incomes north of $500,000 grand a year. I had an immigrant relative who made tens of millions in the construction business, owned multiple million dollar homes, and never stopped complaining. The guy was driving Lincolns and Jaguars up until the day he died and his funeral cost more than most people make in two years.

    The amusing thing though is that his sense of doom and gloom eventually came true after his death. His wife and kids lost the business and now besides one lake house they are working stiffs just like most people.

    The karma train stops for most of us at one time or another. If I live long enough it may stop at my station........again.

    Toot, toot. Chug a chug a here that steam engine comin'.

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  20. Thanks for that Paul! Some of these people should be ashamed of themselves.....but we know that's not going to happen. These are the same people who, in the same breath, will complain that nothing good opens in Uptown. Very sad indeed.

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  22. I just wish the Methodone Clinic north of The Spot would take down the sign offering the "cheapest" dose in the neighborhood. How tacky is that.

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  23. Has anyone heard anything about the former Salvation Army building on that corner across from Target?

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  24. "Has anyone heard anything about the former Salvation Army building on that corner across from Target?" asked Uptown SuperHero!

    Just a little.

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  25. I had no problems with it as a matter of fact I was planning my birthday party next for there .very sad like Paul said people losing there jobs and a empty building hurts everyone in the long run

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  26. I never ordered food at the Spot but the beer was always cold and the staff was always very friendly and cool. The doormen would say hello to everybody walking by customers or otherwise. The place had a good vibe, can't say that about a lot of "successful" bars.

    Sad to see them go.....

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  27. I think half the people posting here should be ashamed of themselves. Have you ever lost your job after working your butt off for 7 years trying to cater to various diverse groups of people? If you would have been among the 500 ppl who strolled through their closing night, you would have heard the following from a bunch of people who now call Brian their friend: Brian gave actors and improvisers a place to showcase their talents for free when other bars charged an arm and a leg, Brian brought people together who would have never otherwise met and become friends, Brian gave people jobs when they came to him knowing no one in this city, Brian sent fantasy football players to Hawaii for the pro bowl year after year, Brian gave many Green Bay fans a place to cheer on their team while also having a place for Bears fans, Brian organized and supported our charities when no one else would - like helping to raise tens of thousands of dollars for The Special Olympics, Brian sponosored your athletic groups so you could play for free, Brian bent over backwards to make sure EVERY patron who walked thru his doors felt special. I've met some of my best friends at The Spot and I have Brian to thank for that. Just because you had one bad experience at a place and didn't get your half off cheese burger or had to wait a few minutes to get your beer, doesn't make that place unworthy of doing business in probably one of the hardest places to own a bar on the Northside. It's thst type of short-sidedness that solo businesses dont need. For all the Brian supporters, don't worry, he'll be back, for the others I wish you good luck....

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  28. So well said Heather!!!!! I never come on here but I was looking for info on The Flats and I came across one of my best friends... who I met through The Spot ... putting into words what hundreds of people feel about The Spot closing. I love you, girl. -Bethany

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