It all goes back to the J's incident
[QUOTE=SouthSideRed;5788812]What a shame, I just started going back to Louie's. Was there about a week ago and everything seemed above board. It's hard to believe with all the nonsense going on, they would let a minor work there and get caught.[/QUOTE]
Let's all hop in the Wayback Machine to the incident at J's a a year & a half ago, the village banned dancers entirely from the non "entertainment" bars in Melrose. The village board established an ordinance that kept Louie's from having dancers & that did not change. Louie's was trying to figure a way around this ordinance, the girls were in street clothes etc. So as far as ever reopening & being "allowed" to have dancers or fashion shows, why would a new owner be allowed to do that when Louie's was not after being established in business for 2 decades?
As far as the locals go they seemed to be looking the other way as long as there were no complaints nor incidents & they kept a low profile. Taking that in to consideration, it's hard to believe that Louie or anyone else would take the risk of not checking ID's. I checked with the people I know that are in the local loop today & no one knows anything of minors involved (although not impossible). If that was the case, the fact that county was involved would mean Louie & any of the bartenders would have been arrested & facing very serious charges. It probably would have at least made the papers. Having dancers against a village ordinance that may have been doing more than dancing (if that was a factor), is enough for some fines & losing ones liquor license. Allowing minors to work in that environment is a route to serious time. I certainly hope that was not the case. Whatever happened, it is a shame & I will miss Louie's. Been a customer there since they first began having dancers.
Lamenting Loss of Louie's
I'm going to miss Louie's a lot. I was there just last month for my birthday and had a great time. I enjoyed the friendly and laid-back environment Louie's had.
Now all that's left of the Mannheim area bars is Carl's, and I'm honestly not a fan of that place. I suppose Scores and Gold Club are other options, but those places strike me as stuffy, arrogant, and extremely overpriced.
Thanks for all of this great intel!
[QUOTE=MayorQuimby;5791616]So, I stopped into Bobby's over the weekend. Apparently the locals stopped in to bust them the same day as they did Louie's. Things had just started to loosen up there over the past couple weeks depending on what bartender & what girls showed up. There was no one dancing at the time they stopped in, everyone just sitting at the bar. Between that scare & Louie's getting shut down for good, they don't want to risk the same fate since the village has decided to strictly enforce the dancer ban put in place after the J's fiasco. They are actually telling most of the girls to not even come in.
At this point, all has come to a halt. Bobby's seems to be doing quite well as a non lingerie bar. If you go in Thurs through Sat, they have a good crowd. As much as I hate to say it. The Mannheim strip is not what it used to be (with the exception of Carls). Maybe down the road things might change, but that's what everyone said about Rockford, Belvidere (my particular favorite), Cicero, & parts of NW Indiana. These are all places that were a lot of fun, I have enjoyed myself at places in all of those areas as well, but none have returned to their heyday. I'm still in Denial over Belvidere & frequently check the boards hoping my ATF Terry will reappear but no such luck. I hate to say it, but it really looks like we have to accept that Bobby's is just a regular bar now. At this point the only hope may be that some of these girls find a spot to hang looking for takeout.[/QUOTE]Have not checked in recently because the melrose thread except for the 15th bookstore thread has been dead. I agree that if anything will be left to be had it will be just going in to one of the usual places and look around for possible takeout. All of the info on here is all spot on as I am up and down the street regularly. J's is supposed to open as a sport's bar, however still nothing. Also what was playpen now a mexican restaurant of sorts technically is open I don't see the traffic. I know the corner taco place right at the north west corner of heim and lake does do a brisk business. Did not know about louie's either. I can tell you the flea is going through major changes as code came in and they need to force the vendors inside to make costly changes or they are gone. Word is that the flea was sold, however I can not confirm this. I do believe that the village though has been on the war path to enforce codes. Stosh stay safe all.
