Back in March we noted that beleaguered Lansdowne Street rock club Bill’s Bar underwent a makeover and was starting to host live music and DJ nights again. Well, the transformation also included a brand new — and awfully generic — neon sign out front, replacing the old red marquee that was so distinctive, it was flashed during the intro of the first few seasons of Bar Rescue.
We don’t get too nostalgic for the “old Boston” very much, but this definitely feels like the end of an era, especially for dirty old Lansdowne Street. The club, which once housed parties like Start! and Blackout Bar, booked bands like Interpol and the Sheila Divine, and even hosted an infamous game of Naked Crisco Twister with Nirvana and the Smashing Pumpkins back in the early ’90s, was the last connection to Lansdowne’s drag strip of rock and roll nightclubs.
And even though Bill’s was a shell of its former self in recent years — I left as General Manager there around 2006 and 2007 — that busted-up marquee was a nice throwback to its glory days.
Now it looks like a Florida highway roadside bistro. And what’s up with the massive apostrophe? Oh well.
Here’s another look:
And the old signage, in all its beat-up, broken-bulbed, beautifully faded rock and roll glory.
