Little Five Point’s Star Bar, at 437 Moreland Ave. NE., first opened in 1991 as a hotspot for karaoke, music, and comedy shows, and when it reopens under new ownership after going dark briefly at the top of the year, regulars can delightfully expect more of the same.
A new ownership team, which is comprised of several hospitality industry vets, signed a lease in January, after being in talks about a take-over for roughly nine months, Luke Lewis, one of the incoming co-owners, told What Now Atlanta Monday.
The bar shuttered abruptly on Dec. 31, 2019, shortly after the previous operator, Kahle Davis, aired out his discontents with the landowner in a now-removed post on the bar’s Facebook page.
“It was our favorite bar in Atlanta and we didn’t want to see it close so we stepped up to make sure it had a new life,” Lewis said.
“We removed about 40 yards of accumulated trash, debris, and junk that had just been kept in the bar for way too long, from broken furniture to things that just shouldn’t be housed in a bar or business for that matter.”
Requisite of that rebirth was a deep clean and scrub down of nearly three decades worth of divey dirt and grime.
“We’ve made repairs, fixed some holes in the walls, gave it a fresh coat and mopped, cleaned out all the vents from all the years of smoking, things were very dirty. When we do have the opportunity to reopen it will be a non-smoking establishment, but we do have a very large smoking patio behind the Little Vinyl Lounge.”
The impending re-opening, penciled in for some time in the next couple of weeks, could be thwarted by the COVID-19 pandemic which is causing Atlanta’s food and drink establishments to recalibrate projections with the mandates of the government and public health entities.
“We are obviously monitoring the COVID-19 virus situation,” Lewis said.
“We are following the City’s recommendations, the CDC and federal government as to what we need to do, whether or not we should be open for business any of that. We’re still waiting on a few last-minute pieces of paperwork to come through from the City and state in order to open as well, so we’re just trying to get all those ducks in a row.”
According to Lewis, the new ownership team does not want to change what has made the Star Bar great for the last 28 years.
“We loved the variety and the fact that everyone felt welcome there. We want to keep that same vibe moving forward, and, if possible, be more inclusive moving forward, although we are ridiculously inclusive as it is. What made the Star Bar so great is that you could see a country show on one night, you could go to a hip hop dance party on another night, and a punk rock show the night after that. Where else in the city can you get that? So, we want to carry on those traditions, and add some new ones.”
