Star Community Bar, which closed in January of 2019, has officially reopened under new ownership on Moreland Avenue. The dive bar and lounge, known for its live music performances and iconic black vault shrine to Elvis, has been a Little Five Points institution since 1991, when it opened under David Heany and Marty Nolan inside the old Citizens and Southern National Bank.
Now owned by Christopher Jackson, Luke Lewis, Dan Meade, and Bruce McLeod, Eater reports, Star Bar announced on Facebook that it’s “easing back into things,” and is open for cocktails Monday-Saturday, starting at 5pm, in the Little Vinyl Lounge and Patio. The bar plans to announce outside events and limited capacity indoor events shortly, and hopes to fill their events calendar by the fall.
According to new owner Luke Lewis, the bar’s repairs were primarily cosmetic — mainly a fresh coat of paint and a deep scrub. “We have no intention to change what the Star Bar was,” Lewis told the Atlanta Business Chronicle. “We only want to make the Star Bar better. We’ve spent the last few months cleaning 30 years’ worth of grime and dirt and dust, cigarette smoke, nicotine, literally just cleaning the place up, replacing the ceiling tiles, fresh coat of paint, just giving it a better look.”
And now that the bar is squeaky clean, it intends to stay that way. Masks are required inside for now, and the new owners recommend that customers “stay safe, get your shots, then come down and have a beer and a shot with us.”
In other words, Star Bar is TCB — so you should, too. Nothing like chasing a shot of Pfizer with a shot of tequila next to an Elvis Presley shrine.
