Add Wonder Bar in Allston to the list of venues that will not re-open after the pandemic. A few weeks after word first circulated that the Harvard Avenue bar and nightclub was closing permanently, news was made official today (November 23) by its owner Noah Eisendrath.
“As everyone probably knows, Wonder Bar will not re-open due to the coronavirus and the resulting government shutdown,” Eisendrath writes on Wonder Bar’s Facebook page. “It has taken me a while to write this because after 15 years it is difficult to put into words. I want to thank all of my staff over the years and of course the patrons! We had a great run and I will never forget the all the amazing people and incredible events. Let’s focus on the good times we had and not the sad ending. I wish you all the best and will miss what we all created together.”
Wonder Bar was a unique spot, an alternative to the downtown scene and home to a wide range of underground electronic music, DJ nights, and dance parties, from the long-running weekly goth and industrial night Ceremony, a Boston alternative institution, to a variety of other themed nights that gave a home to hip-hop, beats, drum and bass, techno, EDM, and other genres of dance music. It hosted DJ battles, live performances, and even comedy nights, all while catering to a diverse clientele that reflected its Allston neighborhood.
Wonder Bar is the latest Boston-area venue to announce it will not re-open after the COVID-19 pandemic. It joins Bull McCabe’s and Thunder Road in Somerville, Jamaica Plain’s Bella Luna Restaurant and Milky Way Lounge, The Cantab in Cambridge, and nearby Allston neighbor Great Scott on the growing list of rooms that have become casualties of the coronavirus and our inability to respond to it and get it under control.
What will eventually go into the space at 186 Harvard Ave. is yet to be known, though it has a rich history in the Boston music scene. That location was formerly known as long-gone rock clubs Bunratty’s and Local 186 before its renovation and rebranding.
