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Somerville’s shot clock ticks until 2 a.m.
BY CAMILLE DODERO
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At 1 a.m. in Somerville, when the bouncers at the Burren bellow "Drink ’em up!" at the blotto barflies, there are always a few uninitiated folks in the house who’re completely bewildered by the early closing time. What these squiffy out-of-towners don’t realize is that, unlike Boston or Cambridge, Somerville has always shut its bars at one. And within the past five years or so, Boston’s working-class neighbor has started going to bed earlier than ever: nearly all dining establishments stop taking orders before Conan O’Brien sits down to his second guest; Dolly’s Late Night Restaurant, the city’s one all-night joint, was supplanted a few years ago by an ersatz clam shack that closes at 10 p.m. Even Davis Square’s Store 24 locks up at midnight. But the folks at Somerville City Hall have started to realize that tucking customers in early means attracting fewer of them. Early last week, after proprietors from places like PJ Ryan’s, in Teele Square, and the ginormous Skee-Ball-billiards-cheap-booze complex Good Times Emporium publicly complained about losing business to neighboring cities like Medford and Malden, Somerville’s Licensing Commission voted to allow some of the city’s bars to stay open an hour later. "The fact that Cambridge, Boston, Malden, and Revere — towns in easy driving distance from Somerville — have had 2 a.m. closing times has always put our entertainment establishments at a disadvantage," says Raymond Trant, chair of the Licensing Commission. Once Somerville’s recent smoking ban was added to the mix, Trant says, local barstools became noticeably emptier than usual. "Customers are fleeing to Malden and Everett. It’s a double whammy for the city." But the vote doesn’t mean that any establishment with a liquor license can stay open an hour later. Applications for extended hours will be approved "on a case-by-case basis by public need" says Trant, with no limit to the number of permits issued — hence, permits will be a privilege and not a right. Although the Licensing Commission won’t start approving applications until its next meeting on Monday, April 26, bars such as PJ Ryan’s, Johnny D’s, the Independent, Toast Lounge, and the Burren, to name a few, are already lining up for the extended hours. The Monday-night bartender at Davis Square’s Sligo Pub, a tall dark-haired young man, seems to think the extended hours are a done deal. "It’s all set," he says. Really? "Oh yeah, we already got it," he promises. Then he cuts the conversation short to yank a drunk guy out of the women’s room — and it’s only 11:30 p.m.
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