This is Plum Loco! Rio Loco that is. Black Gold, Texas Tea, swimming pools, movie stars. But no more margaritas, as the cantina is now closed to allow a redesign that the owners hope will have them come back bigger, stronger — and longer.
(And for you holiday buffs who can’t seem to let Christmas go, you can read all about it, and how it played out at local nightspots, in a retrospective filed under Notes From The Beat. And for a primer on where to go on New Year’s Eve, and what to see, eat and drink while there, look up Picks Of The Week).
— Another downtown night spot didn’t make it, as Rio Loco put up a sign saying that they are retooling. It thanked patrons for their support, again with those words, and it said the owners are coming back by building a new design concept that can be enjoyed soon. Too bad. The huge wall of bright neon-ish televisions, (often with very pink hues), above the very long bar rail made the cantina and its Jimmy Buffett-like theme something other than Hudson has seen, although for the workers the fact that the kitchen was down a back flight of stairs, a facet made necessary because of the building’s layout, often made things dicey. The joint that formerly was Ellie’s on Main was always hopping early, but by midnight there was always hardly anyone in the place. By way of comparison, the Negret wine company also lasted only a few short months, but the former auto dealership and bank building, now serving as a bar venue, also came back, in the form of Hop ‘N Barrel craft brewery, which also has had occasional bands in back. However, the same rejuvenation cannot be said of Stonetap, which did at least make it a few years.
— With that said, Shiner’s in Lakeland also will no longer show, as it closed weeks ago, even though the sign out front, a multi-purpose marquee, still has the name there, in big letters.
— The debris is being thrown out the back patio door to the former Dibbo’s, into a full-size dumpster, to get that back area ship shape for new uses. While the place was known as Stonetap, the spacious back room that once was a concert hall sat in disarray. There were longterm plans to bring it around, to be part of the restaurant model for Stonetap, its owners said, but they never came to fruition, possibly because of money matters. That usage could now become a reality under a new owner, as a part of the overall renovation project. To wit, there stands a sign higher and to the left of the dumpster, that stumps for the new place, when it will also house condos as the main part of the mix.
— Taco Johns was a main dropoff site for Toys for Tots, so you could help out a child in need while getting a late night munch for yourself. Word had it that Pres Donald Trump himself might stop by and make a donation, as Wisconsin as a Red State is one of his faves, next to Arizona and New Mexico, but more to that point, he apparently balked when finding out that some of those underprivileged tots might belong to parents from that country that’s Down There. On a happier and sillier note, Dick’s had a clothing donation space where you could “Drop Your Drawers.”
— A guy who looked like Simon Cowell was watching a bowl game at Buffalo Wild Wings, and commented on various QBs about their ability as “throwers,” as should be fitting because it made him out to be a judge of that position. He and a bartender then shared opinions on the livability of the game’s host city, in Hawaii, and the bartender was a sort of a judge too, as he had lived there.
— There were hugs all around between a Green Mill bartender and her best regulars, who were down to each and every person at the bar, on the night before Christmas.There also were happenings on the night of Christmas Eve day. A man who looked like Captain Picard was giving instructions to his Number One at Dick’s. An older guy sitting by the old jukebox also was a TV show lookalike, back from the Golden Days of that medium. (One of my old advertising profs, Irv Grossman, used to be incensed that the only actual meaning for that term was as a psychic. As he used to start his laments to his not-so-eager students, who had heard it all before: “People …”)