"Hopefully who ever takes over keeps that going." Kenneth Nicolas wrote that in June, in the Facebook post announcing that Greendale's Pub at 404 West Boylston St. would close after 38 years. He was thanking the bands that had played there, and MassLive reported the line as the pub's last word on its own music.
Greendale's closed July 1. By late September, someone had taken over. City records show the new owners received approval for live music. They have not said anything yet about the room's musical identity, though, and the schedule they proposed leaves out the night that identity was built on.
What Changed Hands for $50,000
The Worcester Guardian reported on Oct. 6 that North Worcester Ventures LLC had agreed to buy Greendale's Pub from Nicolas for $50,000. The company is a joint venture of Worcester bar owners Izzy Cruz and his wife, Kate Shaw, who also own the Press Box on Lincoln Street and Trackside Tavern on West Boylston Street. Cruz's son, Izzy Cruz III, will manage the pub.
The Worcester License Commission approved the new owners' applications at its Sept. 24 meeting. The meeting minutes list three separate items, all approved on a 3-0 roll call vote:
| License | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Restaurant all-alcohol license | Transferred from KJN, Inc. dba Greendale's Pub |
| Common victualler license | Requested by the new owners and approved |
| Entertainment license | Requested by the new owners and approved, covering jukebox, TV, radio, dancing by patrons, recorded music, amplification system, light show, karaoke, live music |
The last row matters most for anyone who went to Greendale's to hear a band. Live music is written into the license, along with an amplification system and dancing. The minutes record the applicants' attorney, Robert Hennigan, saying they were "looking to transfer the licenses." They don't record any plan for bands, jams or booking.
Commission chair Anthony Vigliotti summed up the approval this way, as quoted by the Worcester Guardian: "Glad to see Greendale's is going to still be operating."
The Night the Room Was Built Around
MassLive described Greendale's as a neighborhood spot for beers and cocktails that hosted live music several times a week, mostly blues bands. That reputation grew from one weekly event that ran on Sundays.
Guitarist Jim Perry spent years looking for a permanent home for his blues jam. According to Worcester Magazine's 2015 account, he got his start sitting in at a Sunday jam at what was then Frank's Pub in East Brookfield, then tried running his own at a club in Warren for a year or two before it fizzled. He moved to Greendale's, which the magazine said was "already known as a solid local rock bar." Worcester Magazine stories differ by about a year on the start date: the 2015 piece says 2010, and a 2014 piece marked the jam's fifth anniversary that February.
Perry told the magazine the jam took hold quickly:
"Right from the beginning, we had people who became regulars. They would come in virtually every week. Before we knew it, every table was full and it became a little blues community."
The format was simple. A featured performer opened, and then the stage went to whoever had signed up. Worcester Magazine's 2014 anniversary story put the start at 6 p.m. on Sundays and named Lisa Marie and Johnny Bluehorn among the featured acts. Every week a bucket went around to collect money for the musicians, and the 2015 story says the lineup changed so much that no two Sundays were the same.
Those Sundays brought in players from well beyond Worcester. A 2012 Worcester Magazine listing set the jam for Sunday nights from 6 to 10 p.m. and named upcoming guests:
- Brett Brumby
- Mission of Blues with Scott Bronnes
- Diane Blue
- Dennis Brennan
- Mike Lanigan
- Fran D'Agostino
By 2015, Worcester Magazine said the jam had hosted musicians from across the state and from overseas, including Boston's Diane Blue and Roberto Morbioli from Italy. Perry said the part he valued most was having amateur musicians play next to veterans. The magazine also wrote about fundraisers for friends and neighbors, and bands volunteering their time for people who needed help.
A Jam That Already Outlived Its Founder Once
Perry stepped away at the end of January 2016. He said running the jam meant building a new show every week out of whoever turned up, and that "if I have eight drummers who signed up and no guitar players, that's a real challenge." He picked local singer and guitarist Mike Lynch to take over, and Worcester Magazine reported that the jams would continue under Lynch.
That handoff answers part of the question hanging over Greendale's now. The Sunday jam already survived losing its founder once, because someone else agreed to do the weekly work. What the music needs is a person willing to run it and a room willing to host it. The license is only the permission.
Greendale's music also went beyond Sundays. In a 2019 Worcester Magazine oral history of the city's working musicians, Craig Rawding's blues project, The Cobra Kings, was playing Greendale's on Tuesdays.
Four Proposed Nights, and the One Missing
According to the Worcester Guardian, the new owners proposed hours of 5 p.m. to 2 a.m., Wednesday through Saturday.
Those hours are a proposal, not a final schedule, and bars often change their hours after opening. Still, Sunday is not on the list. The night Worcester Magazine spent years writing about, with its 6 p.m. start and bucket for the band, falls on a day the new Greendale's doesn't plan to open. Tuesday, the Cobra Kings' night in 2019, isn't on the list either.
A Wednesday-through-Saturday, late-night schedule fits a different kind of bar: weeknight regulars and weekend crowds, open until 2 a.m. Whether bands are part of that picture is up to the new owners, and they have not said.
What the Owners Run a Mile Up the Road
Cruz and Shaw's Trackside Tavern, at 541 West Boylston Street, shows how they currently run a neighborhood bar on the same road. Trackside's website lists:
- Opening daily at 11 a.m.
- Music Bingo on Wednesdays, 7 to 9 p.m.
- Karaoke on Thursdays, 7 to 11 p.m.
- Kitchen hours of 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Friday
- On Sundays, the kitchen opens one hour before Patriots games and runs until the fourth quarter starts
When Trackside opened, Pulse Magazine's 2023 profile described a welcoming neighborhood bar with Thursday karaoke. The website lists no live-band night.
This tells you how the owners program their other room. It doesn't predict Greendale's, which has a different license and a different history, and a manager of its own. The Greendale's entertainment license names both karaoke and live music, so either fits.
Questions Still Open
As of the Worcester Guardian's Oct. 6 report, no reopening date had been announced. The License Commission's October minutes and agenda list no further action on Greendale's.
Here is what to watch for when the doors open at 404 West Boylston St.:
- The opening date. Nothing public has been set.
- The final hours. The proposal is Wednesday through Saturday, 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Any added afternoon or Sunday hours would leave room for a jam.
- Bands on the calendar. The license allows live music. A posted lineup would be the first sign the owners plan to use it.
- Who runs the music. The Sunday jam continued after 2016 because Mike Lynch took over the weekly work. A revived jam or a regular blues night would need someone doing the same job.
- The name. The Commission minutes list the applicant as North Worcester Ventures, LLC, dba Greendale's Pub, so the name is staying.
Nicolas ended his goodbye post by thanking his staff, the bands and his customers, and promised one last round with "YOU'RE ALL HIRED!"
Neighborhood landmarks like Greendale's shape how a street feels long before anyone thinks about real estate. If you have lived near West Boylston Street for years and are starting to think about what your own place is worth, Erin Zamarro can give you a straight, local read. Get a Free Home Valuation.
