Meghan Keneally The transfer was approved for Banjo Jim’s.The State Liquor Authority Committee of Community Board 3 Monday night endorsed the transfer of the liquor license at Banjo Jim’s, the popular bluegrass bar on Avenue C.
The transfer of the bar’s liquor license was said to be the only issue left to be resolved before the bar was sold to an ownership group led by Robert Ceraso. The next step is for the Community Board to pass along its recommendation to the State Liquor Authority.
The new license allows for acoustic guitar accompanied by microphone amplification and DJs up to two times per week. The hours will remain the same as they are at Banjo Jim’s currently — 5 p.m. to 4 a.m. throughout the week, and then from noon until 4 a.m. on the weekends. Few other details were finalized at Monday’s meeting, except that the signage will change — perhaps unsurprising since Mr. Ceraso has indicated that he will depart from the bluegrass theme and opt for an “artisanal” motif, which may not fit with the large banjo on the current sign over the bar’s front door. The bar’s new doors will be barn-style with glass windows that can be lifted and opened in the summer months.
Joshua Davis Workers removed beer and other beverage from Mars Bar, which was apparently closed by the authorities earlier today.Update | 6:14 p.m. Health Department officials have confirmed that they ordered the closure of Mars Bar today because of a litany of health code violations. The department said that inspectors observed about 850 fruit flies in various areas of the restaurant and in a bottle of alcohol; the department also cited “conditions conducive to a pest infestation including standing water on a floor near an ice machine, water logged wooden flooring and bottles in a box with fluid in them.”
Update | 5:26 p.m. With the wrecking ball already hanging over its head, Mars Bar was apparently forced to close by the authorities earlier today. EV Grieve posted rumors that the bar had been closed by the Department of Health, but it was unclear whether the closure was temporary or permanent.
A reporter from The Local saw a yellow sign bearing the words “Closed by Order of the Commissioner of Health and Mental Hygiene” affixed to the front door of the bar around 4 this afternoon. Within a half hour, the sign had been covered and a worker hurled expletives at reporters as they took photographs of the scene.
Grieve called the bar, as did The Local. A man answered the phone and asked about the closure said: “The Mars Bar just closed down now.” He refused to answer any more questions and hung up. Late this afternoon, a handwritten, cardboard sign attached to the store read simply “closed” and beer was being carted out on to the sidewalk.
Owner Hank Penza was at his usual station outside the bar, but patrons and staff at the bar declined to comment to The Local.
In an interview with the Village Voice’s Runnin’ Scared blog, Mr. Penza denied that the Health Department was involved in the bar’s closure.
The Local is continuing to report this story and we will provide more details as they become available.
Khristopher J. Brooks, Joshua Davis, Ian Duncan and Todd Olmstead contributed reporting to this post.
Khristopher J. Brooks The scene outside Mars Bar earlier today.
Meghan Keneally. A staple of the East Village music scene, the future of Banjo Jim’s is up for approval.After the blogger EV Grieve reported that changes may be coming to Banjo Jim’s, a popular bluegrass bar on Avenue C, locals took to their keyboards and headed to the blog’s comments section in anguish.
The bar’s prospective owner, Robert Ceraso, told the blog that he will be presenting a plan to the State Liquor Authority Committee of Community Board 3 tonight asking that the liquor license for the bar be tranferred to he and his partners. In describing his vision for his bar, Mr. Ceraso said that he envisioned it as an “artisanal neighborhood cocktail bar.” And that did him in.
Commenters skewered his use of the word, likening it to buzzwords of trends past, and immediately branded him as one of the big bad developers swooping in to discard the East Village of old.
One commenter, Chris Flash, wrote: “Yet another cool unpretentious music venue lost on the LES, to be replaced by yet ANOTHER yuppie dive, as if Ceraso’s dive will be different from any other dive!!”
Another, Bowery Boogie, said: “Missing Banjo Jim’s already. Artisinal is one of those buzz words that makes me puke every time.”
Mr. Ceraso said that the reaction was not totally unexpected.
“I knew there was going to be some backlash,” Mr. Ceraso said in a telephone interview. “People don’t like change and they turned me into some crazy guy that wants to change the neighborhood.”
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