Another independent venue that showcases live music in Massachusetts will soon be closing, this time on the South Shore.
James Reed of the Boston Globe reports this morning that the Beachcomber in Quincy will close next month after a 46-year run. Though no formal announcement from the venue has been made, Reed relays word from Beachcomber co-owner Sean McGettrick that the final night is expected to be Sept. 4.
The Beachcomber has been a South Shore haven for live music since it opened in 1959, but will be soon converted into a “high-end restaurant.”
Further details from the Globe report:
“This has been a place people love, and we’ve had a lot of good times here,” said the 48-year-old McGettrick, adding that it’s still too early to announce the bar’s farewell plans.
The Beachcomber — not to be mistaken with the Wellfleet bar and restaurant with the same name — is a 2,876-square-foot space with an outdoor patio and a dive-bar atmosphere. It went on the market last year for $1.6 million. McGettrick declined to name the sale price or the new owner, but said it was a local businessman who planned to turn the Beachcomber into a high-end restaurant. As McGettrick understood it, the current building will be torn down, and the new business will be erected in the parking lot on stilts “to get out of the flood zone.” It will still be called the Beachcomber, he said.
In its heyday, stars both established and rising passed through its door, from jazz giants (Louis Armstrong) and country queens (Loretta Lynn) to pop stars (Linda Ronstadt) and hometown heroes (Dropkick Murphys). Rosemary Clooney, Duke Ellington, Tiny Tim, Count Basie, and Bobby Darin played there. From the early ’80s to the late ’90s, it was known as Nostalgia before reverting to its original name.
The announcement of the Beachcomber’s closing comes exactly a week after the final night live music at longtime Cambridge rock club T.T. The Bear’s Place. Last month, Somerville music venue Johnny D’s announced it will shutter in January or February of next year.