Didn’t know Mission Ale House was closing this week? Hey, don’t worry, neither did the people who work there. “I was out of town spreading my father’s ashes, and came home to no job,” says Johnny Van Wyk, who this year closed his club Johnny V’s and moved his live-music bookings to Mission, where he was general manager.
Once a popular hangout for college students and 49ers—quarterback Jeff Garcia drank his way to a DUI there—“Mission Male House,” as it came to be known to a sexually frustrated dating crowd, was a victim of hard times—the latest in a wave of downtown bar and restaurant closures. “For those guys, it’s a fire sale,” Van Wyk says.
However, Dan Doherty, who transformed the former eyesore, Dot’s Bar and Grill, into an anchor of downtown’s nightlife for almost 14 years, says the sale shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone. Negotiations had been going on for quite some time. “There was an ABC transfer-of-ownership sign up for two months,” he says.
The sale hasn’t finalized yet, but if there were some lapses in communication, it may very well have been because Doherty himself had become so frustrated with the situation. He says after his Mission experience, he won’t be doing business in San Jose again. “I’m sick of the city and the police and the code enforcement that ran us out of business,” he says. “They don’t want small businesses—not ones that serve alcohol, anyway.”
The new owners, a group led by local investor Freddy Jackson, are operating under a temporary license and officially are simply closing in November for “renovations.” But no one knows yet what direction they’re going to take the bar. As of now, Mission’s last call is Sunday, Nov. 1.
That’s sad news for the local music scene, which had been getting more and more comfortable with Mission as a live space. “It was a complete surprise to everybody,” insists Denver Nitze of Deez Nitze Productions, who had been booking acts there since last summer. “It hit me pretty hard. I had several shows booked.” For now, Van Wyk has picked up some shifts at Smoke Tiki Lounge, and Nitze is rerouting as many shows as possible to Mountain Charley’s in Los Gatos.
This isn’t really bad news. This is simply a re-birth (through the renovations) of the MAH space. Some, especially rental-cops from Morgan Hill and those who like the smell of urine in our downtown garages, won’t like the changes.
But the changes need to happen in order to attract law-abiding citizens OF ALL COLORS to downtown San Jose. It’s about time!
It’ll open up as another typical San Jose douche hole. Can SJ get a legit venue? Seriously, some of these fools should look to the streets to who’s really pushing the boundaries of night life in San Jose? There’s a thriving underground music scene here in San Jose that owners and “investors” seem to ignore or are just not keen enough to pick up on. Before you look into opening another “Vegas/LA” style “ultra” “lounge” “superclub”, try to create something we can call our own. Real recognize real.
How does Sam Licardo’s fluff piece fit in all of this? If everythings Sam says were true; why are so many places closing and siting similar problems as thier reasons for closing.
The old mission will be missed.
I’m writing this response to the Weds Oct 28th edition of Metro and the impression from the “the Fly’ column that the sale of Mission Ale House came out of left field, that employees were kept completely in the dark and occurred when we were all looking the other way. Nothing could be further from the truth. We were all aware that the ABC intent to sell notice had been posted 2 months earlier. Those of us who worked more often during the day were fully aware of different potential business groups doing walk throughs, holding meetings and inspecting the facility. This included Johnny V who served as GM for the past few months. We often discussed the very real possibility that if a deal were to be completed we may not be retained by the new ownership group. It is true that the exact timing of the deal and the actual transition date was unknown to us until a few days prior simply because that is the nature of these transactions. The new and old owners needed to complete the negotiations. It is also true that the sale date occurred while John was on vacation and he received a call saying his services would no longer be required. The timing was completely unrelated. We enjoyed working with John and wish him well. The same holds true for the new group headed by Fred Jackson.
It does feel as if an era has passed. Those of us who were involved with Mission in one way or another since 1996 (not just the past few months) feel saddened by the closure but in this economic climate and with the attitude of some in the law enforcement community 14 years was a pretty damn good run……Tom O’Hara former Director of Marketing Mission Ale House and Smoke Tiki Lounge
It is sad to see a downtown staple vanish. Yes, some staff were dealing drugs. There were way to many “thugs” and underage customers but hey, this play was fun. To the average Joe who minded his own business, drank his share of ale and walked home or took a cab, this was the place.
I’ll never forget the days they “closed” early and kept serving the regulars. Made us feel special.
Sorry to see u go,
F.Nasty
Bummer… The Ale House was the main watering hole for Netcom in the late 90’s…
As a long-time regular at Mission Ale for many years, I am saddened by its closing, but could see it coming for awhile. I was hoping that the economy would pick up but not to be unfortunately. I do like Freddy J a lot and first met him when he was a security guy at Mission. He built up quite a nice clientele at Temple for a few years, and I think if anybody can turn the place around, it’s Freddy—first class act and just a terrific bartender. It’s fun when you meet someone years ago who started from the bottom and has worked his way to the top, so to say. Best of luck to Freddy and I will try out the new place, which I think will be a success.
I hope that the new staff can restore the old Happy Hour crowd that used to be a staple from around 4-7pm on weekdays. That was a fun scene.