Syracuse Ska Forum

While riding past the old Planet 505 on Westcott Street a moment ago, I noticed the lights were on behind the covered windows and the door ajar. Never being the timid one, I walked in, introduced myself and chatted up the new owner/operator.

Here's the deal: The landlord of the building, the same guy who owns Munjeds, Taps, Mom's Diner and everything inbetween, is re-opening Planet 505 himself, probably by the end of September. It'll have a new name, which he hasn't decided yet. He's got a contractor in there now who's gutted the inside, so they're going to put in all new walls, ceiling, stage, bar, etc. The layout is staying exactly the same, but everything will be new.

The good news is that he still wants to do live music.

The bad news is, strictly 21+ he tells me. He's convinced that even doing 18+ is what got the old owner in trouble. And mind you, Taps is a very strict 21+ bar he owns on the same block, so I don't doubt he's serious about that. I mentioned the idea of closing the bar for all ages matinees, which he admitted in theory might be doable, but he also isn't really very interested in that right now. And since he has deep pockets (he owns about 1/3 of that business district), he really has no major financial interest in doing so.

He seems most interested in stealing bands from places like Dinosaur and Shiftys, which I'm sure he can probably pull off. So, don't be suprised when The Hot Steppers show up at this new club.

But it sucks for the dream of anything remotely all ages back in that space.

so the deal is Kids, write to your local statesman to lower the drinking age in Syracuse to 15 or 16, that way, I can go to the new Planet 505, and when I win, everyone wins

Actually, my idea has always been to start up a German consulate in Syracuse, that just happens to have a club inside the grounds. That would be legally German territory, where the drinking age is 16.

But somehow, I suspect the Bush administration might have an issue with that ...

Well we can hope he'll change his mind. It would be awesome to have that place back. And of course everyone will still call it Planet 505 or the 505.

Well, since he owns the building (and much of the block, for that matter), I suspect he'll succeed in what he has in mind. If nothing else, that might have a domino effect of opening another place or two up. And given he wants bands like Los Blancos to play there, he really has no intent of going after college kids. Other places will still at least want them ...

I EFFING LOVE LOS BLANCOS. And I hate that they only really play in places that I can't get into. Grr. Damn my age.

Wait a minute. Isn't this the same grrl who's always bragging about getting into bars!?!?!?

In my opinion this is exactly what westcott street needs. It is unfortunate that Munjed (or is it Sam that is opening it? They're brothers that own pretty much the entire westcott block) doesnt want anyone under 21 going in, but considering the consequences of 505 getting shut down they have to be careful. My roomate is a bouncer at Taps and says that they have be strict about IDing people cause they get raided or at least inspected on a fairly regular basis. But I'm glad that we're getting a music plus bar venue on westcott. Living in the "Westcott Nation", I find myself fequenting Taps to meet up w/ friends or to just grab a beer. Lemme tell ya, that bar gets boring. The reopening of 505 or whatever it is gonna be called will really be good for the area. And I don't think its true that they're not going to be targeting the college students. All the bars in the Marshall st region are pretty much just overpacked frat boy hoity doity establishments that never have live music anyways. If this new 505 has a fair amount of live music, I'm sure it will attract students who are sick of a lot of the typical syracuse social scene bullshit. I dunno, I guess living in Burlington VT for the past 4.5 years really spoiled me cause any night I could walk to at least 3 different bars and see a wide variety of great live music usually for free or a minimal cover. I'd like to see more of that around here. anyways sorry bout the rant.

go go gergie signing off.

That's hilarious we both live in the same neighborhood, but never cross paths. I'm living at the moment on Bassett St, off S Beech. Last summer Steven and I shared a place on Hawthorne, off Westcott.

It's a small, small world ...

BTW, I didn't realize Munjed and Sam were brothers. Sam is re-opening 505, for what it's worth. I recognized him, but had never been formally introduced to him before the other day.

It's more that I don't go to bars that I KNOW that I can't get into. I went to someplace in Liverpool once and they were unhappy, but then I used the whole "but I drove all the way from Syracuse, and this is a really good band" deal and they let me stand far FAR away from the bar and not look or say anything to anyone. Haha, it was highly amusing because they got jumpy with the people I went with coming to talk to me and having beers in their hands.

Hmm. I forget who I saw that night though.. A couple bands.. Actually, neither of them was that great..



I dunno. Manhattan's is cool, and Cool's Lounge in Liverpool, and I enjoy Dinosaur BBQ. There are a few other places I've been to, but nothing that I really enjoyed all too much. Manahattan's is def. my favorite.