GLOUCESTER - Picture the perfect night out. Grab an early dinner, no winces when the bill arrives. Pop in for a cold and frothy at a nearby brewpub. Maybe catch a short play by a local director. Then cap it off with a late-night concert.
Do it all within a couple city blocks. Sounds good? Sounds like Boston. Wrong, think Gloucester.
With the recent addition of the Cape Ann Brewing Company’s pub and West End Hall’s opening, Gloucester’s West End is further blossoming into a focal point for entertainment. The new sites add to the overall mix of restaurants, bars and clubs that have sprouted along Main and Rogers streets over the years.
Undaunted by competition, West End business owners unanimously supported the new brewpub and event hall.
“There’s always room for another falafel house on the block,” joked Ian McColl, a New York native and Blackburn Performing Arts’ managing director. “The more things going on, the better.”
Alex Pardo, co-owner of Jalapeños Mexican Restaurant, agreed.
“I always believe in the more businesses you bring into downtown Gloucester, the better it will be for everybody,” Pardo said. “We need each other.”
Dozens of beer lovers packed Cape Ann Brewing Company’s headquarters at the tip of The Fort neighborhood during its brewpub’s grand opening on Saturday, March 7. They lounged in wooden rocking chairs, sidled up to the bar — shaped like the port side of a boat — or gathered at communal picnic tables.
The pub’s inspiration hearkens back to Germany in the Middles Ages, when everything was built around the brewery, according to Jeremy Goldberg, the company’s owner and head brewer.
“The brewery was really the meeting point,” Goldberg, 33, said. “That’s what we want to be.”
Brewing beer was a hobby for this New Jersey native and former Wall Street employee. But when the Twin Towers fell on September 11, 2001, Goldberg said he did the “walk of disbelief” across the Williamsburg Bridge back to his home in Brooklyn.
That’s when it hit him: “I need to be doing something more than just pushing money around.”
Goldberg said he wanted to make a difference in the world, to do something he was proud of. After a 40-day, 38-micro-brewery tour and making a documentary on the journey (“American Beer”), he and his father launched Cape Ann Brewing Company in 2004.
Since opening, Goldberg and crew have sold 64-ounce growlers, done tastings and marketed a variety of brews to bars from Maine to Virginia. But the intention was always to have a brewpub on site.
“There’s nothing more rewarding than to see people enjoying my beer right here in front of me,” said Goldberg, who tends bar with two of his employees.
Not everyone is happy with the pub’s opening. Fort residents protested the brewing company’s arrival. And city officials treated it as “the canary in the mine shaft” to test new business’s success in the area, Goldberg said.
Yet Gloucester at-large has welcomed the brewing company.
“The whole city’s taken us on their shoulders,” he said, adding that local artists have displayed their work at the pub. “It’s theirs, it’s not ours.”
Less then two blocks down Rogers Street, West End Hall is opening its doors on Saturday, March 14 with the U-2 cover band Joshua Tree.
Formerly the St. Peter’s Club function hall, West End Hall aims to be an affordable alternative for those planning concerts, weddings, bar mitzvahs, business conferences and school events.
“I would really like the function hall to support the community,” said Shannon Mount, West End’s function manager. “It’s part of a lot of people’s families at this point.”
The hall rents for $500 per five-hour event on weekdays and $800 Friday-Sunday. It comes equipped with large screen televisions, a stage, full-size bar, wet bar and a separate prep kitchen.
Mount said she has a list of vendors that clients can choose from in planning their events, or bring their own.
The 32-year-old Gloucester resident hopes to bring a bride expo to Cape Ann in late spring and dreams of bigger bands, arts shows or mystery dinners renting out the hall.
But for now, Mount is focusing on the Joshua Tree concert. Tickets sell for $15 apiece. Doors open at 8 p.m. with hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar available to concert goers.
“The band is excited about playing up here,” Mount said.
Meanwhile, the rest of West End continues to pulse with activity. Sometimes the fun gets out of hand.
After opening in late summer last year, Latitude 43 launched a late-night club that proved to be too successful. Co-owner Mark McDonough was called before the city’s licensing board on Feb. 26 to confront a list of complaints from residents, councilors and the police.
Overserving, breech of the public peace, public urination and serving underage drinkers were among some of the complaints filed against the establishment. Board members voted to rescind Latitude’s liquor and entertainment license for three days as punishment, with McDonough closing shop from March 1-3.
The day after the board’s ruling, McDonough sent members a letter in which he apologized for any wrongdoing and announced Latitude 43 would no longer be in the club business. He vowed to have police presence on Fridays and Saturdays and to remove outside speakers, among other changes planned.
“I’m happy because that type of place did not fit with the rhythm and beat of the harbor,” said Attorney Edward Pasquina, chairman of the licensing board.
McDonough referred all questions about the incident to his booking agent, Dan King, saying, “I’ve got some clean-ups to do.”
King, a musician who also plays around the city, said they cancelled their concert series scheduled for March and April and refunded tickets. He regretted most of all telling dozens of musicians they lost their shifts.
Latitude 43 has since retooled their entertainment line-up, with a variety of music shows Thursday-Sunday.
“Nobody was just trying to cause trouble,” King said. “I think those guys [at Latitude 43] are getting a tough break.”
Do it all within a couple city blocks. Sounds good? Sounds like Boston. Wrong, think Gloucester.
With the recent addition of the Cape Ann Brewing Company’s pub and West End Hall’s opening, Gloucester’s West End is further blossoming into a focal point for entertainment. The new sites add to the overall mix of restaurants, bars and clubs that have sprouted along Main and Rogers streets over the years.
Undaunted by competition, West End business owners unanimously supported the new brewpub and event hall.
“There’s always room for another falafel house on the block,” joked Ian McColl, a New York native and Blackburn Performing Arts’ managing director. “The more things going on, the better.”
Alex Pardo, co-owner of Jalapeños Mexican Restaurant, agreed.
“I always believe in the more businesses you bring into downtown Gloucester, the better it will be for everybody,” Pardo said. “We need each other.”
Dozens of beer lovers packed Cape Ann Brewing Company’s headquarters at the tip of The Fort neighborhood during its brewpub’s grand opening on Saturday, March 7. They lounged in wooden rocking chairs, sidled up to the bar — shaped like the port side of a boat — or gathered at communal picnic tables.
The pub’s inspiration hearkens back to Germany in the Middles Ages, when everything was built around the brewery, according to Jeremy Goldberg, the company’s owner and head brewer.
“The brewery was really the meeting point,” Goldberg, 33, said. “That’s what we want to be.”
Brewing beer was a hobby for this New Jersey native and former Wall Street employee. But when the Twin Towers fell on September 11, 2001, Goldberg said he did the “walk of disbelief” across the Williamsburg Bridge back to his home in Brooklyn.
That’s when it hit him: “I need to be doing something more than just pushing money around.”
Goldberg said he wanted to make a difference in the world, to do something he was proud of. After a 40-day, 38-micro-brewery tour and making a documentary on the journey (“American Beer”), he and his father launched Cape Ann Brewing Company in 2004.
Since opening, Goldberg and crew have sold 64-ounce growlers, done tastings and marketed a variety of brews to bars from Maine to Virginia. But the intention was always to have a brewpub on site.
“There’s nothing more rewarding than to see people enjoying my beer right here in front of me,” said Goldberg, who tends bar with two of his employees.
Not everyone is happy with the pub’s opening. Fort residents protested the brewing company’s arrival. And city officials treated it as “the canary in the mine shaft” to test new business’s success in the area, Goldberg said.
Yet Gloucester at-large has welcomed the brewing company.
“The whole city’s taken us on their shoulders,” he said, adding that local artists have displayed their work at the pub. “It’s theirs, it’s not ours.”
Less then two blocks down Rogers Street, West End Hall is opening its doors on Saturday, March 14 with the U-2 cover band Joshua Tree.
Formerly the St. Peter’s Club function hall, West End Hall aims to be an affordable alternative for those planning concerts, weddings, bar mitzvahs, business conferences and school events.
“I would really like the function hall to support the community,” said Shannon Mount, West End’s function manager. “It’s part of a lot of people’s families at this point.”
The hall rents for $500 per five-hour event on weekdays and $800 Friday-Sunday. It comes equipped with large screen televisions, a stage, full-size bar, wet bar and a separate prep kitchen.
Mount said she has a list of vendors that clients can choose from in planning their events, or bring their own.
The 32-year-old Gloucester resident hopes to bring a bride expo to Cape Ann in late spring and dreams of bigger bands, arts shows or mystery dinners renting out the hall.
But for now, Mount is focusing on the Joshua Tree concert. Tickets sell for $15 apiece. Doors open at 8 p.m. with hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar available to concert goers.
“The band is excited about playing up here,” Mount said.
Meanwhile, the rest of West End continues to pulse with activity. Sometimes the fun gets out of hand.
After opening in late summer last year, Latitude 43 launched a late-night club that proved to be too successful. Co-owner Mark McDonough was called before the city’s licensing board on Feb. 26 to confront a list of complaints from residents, councilors and the police.
Overserving, breech of the public peace, public urination and serving underage drinkers were among some of the complaints filed against the establishment. Board members voted to rescind Latitude’s liquor and entertainment license for three days as punishment, with McDonough closing shop from March 1-3.
The day after the board’s ruling, McDonough sent members a letter in which he apologized for any wrongdoing and announced Latitude 43 would no longer be in the club business. He vowed to have police presence on Fridays and Saturdays and to remove outside speakers, among other changes planned.
“I’m happy because that type of place did not fit with the rhythm and beat of the harbor,” said Attorney Edward Pasquina, chairman of the licensing board.
McDonough referred all questions about the incident to his booking agent, Dan King, saying, “I’ve got some clean-ups to do.”
King, a musician who also plays around the city, said they cancelled their concert series scheduled for March and April and refunded tickets. He regretted most of all telling dozens of musicians they lost their shifts.
Latitude 43 has since retooled their entertainment line-up, with a variety of music shows Thursday-Sunday.
“Nobody was just trying to cause trouble,” King said. “I think those guys [at Latitude 43] are getting a tough break.”
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