Milky Way to Close, Landlords Levin and Bruce Unlikely to Win Popularity Contests

The Milky Way, Jamaica Plain's popular candlepin bowling bar and hangout, will close no later than next year, according to the Jamaica Plain Gazette. Bella Luna, its companion restaurant, will move to the Brewery Complex on Amory Street.

The decision comes months after the Milky Way's co-owners spent $80,000 to install a sprinkler system to bring the nightclub up to Boston city code. The decision was motivated by a new lease and an enormous rent increase: $11,000 more per month than the current rate of $13,000. The current lease expires at the end of August.

Thomas Menino, our popular mayor, wrote a letter on behalf of the Milky Way's co-owners to landlords Mordechai Levin and Terry Bruce, asking the cash thirsty vampires upstanding capitalists for a short-term lease extension that would give the Milky Way and Bella Luna up to an additional year to remain at their current location on Centre Street.

Levin and Bruce were quoted in the Gazette saying that they want to bring the rent for the building closer to "parity" after years of "subsidies" given to the Milky Way and Bella Luna businesses.

The lease was "triple-net," meaning that, in addition to the recent sprinkler installation, the Milky Way and Bella Luna had been paying up to 80% of the maintenance costs for the building during their 15 year tenancy.

Businesses close all the time because of market conditions, rent, and politics. But the Milky Way and Bella Luna are the stitches that hem together the fabric of the Hyde Square area of JP. Home to hipsters, salsa dancers, samba ensembles, reggaeton parties, and avid bowlers alike, the Milky Way has worn the face of JP better than any other business that this Bostonist can think of. Its loss to the community cannot be calculated in terms of revenue streams or prevailing market rates. And, in a just world, its departure will cast a pall on the Centre Street property that will be as hard to shake as a baseball curse.

Photo of Brubaker beer, proudly served at Milky Way, by Courtney Lockemer.