The bar itself has undergone a significant transformation over the past year or so. They've taken all of the pool tables out and added some booths. Another sign in this window says they're now closing at 10:00 PM (!) on Fridays and Saturdays which seems incredibly strange to me. So much so, in fact, that I need to go check on this in person.
Anyway that little stretch of Magazine is constantly re-inventing itself. In recent years the most notable change has been the Rue De La Course and the Puccino's coffee shops on either side of the street have become restaurants. The coffee houses tended to stay open late. The restaurants don't. The Bulldog and the Rendezvous are still open nearby, of course. But the crowd each caters to is.. well, they don't have to be too anxious about im-poper attire very often.
None of this is particularly important except that this used to be a corner where a person could spend a lazy afternoon-on-into-evening with a few cups of coffee and then cheap domestics among an.. um.. eclectic sort of crowd. That is probably still possible to some degree but less so now.
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I live in the neighborhood and have been feeling a little bummed out about the loss of the Rue (which, I hear, was owned by the same people as Ignatius and, unlike Ignatius' old location, is zoned for alcohol sales or something or olther) as well as the hundred restaurants owned by the Byblos people that keep popping up on the same stretch (I don't think any of them are good - they are all just ok, which I guess is good enough for their customer base).
Anyway, here is what I know/have heard from reliable-ish connects re: the Balcony. I used to bring my dog there many afternoons for a beer or two, and when the bartender told me that they couldn't allow that anymore, she explained that someone with some connects (she said it was a judge, but I don't know) had moved into an apartment they owned above the pet shop next door and grew annoyed about the ruckus at the bar, so code enforcement was called in and they got written up about smoking, dogs, and the game tables in view of the street.
More recently, those signs went up, which really gives me a bad vibe. It's pretty clear what those signs are saying, though I'd never seen any problems popping up at the place beforehand. Also, I noticed that the bouncers who I had seen there forever have been replaced with a pretty professional-looking, tough-looking group of dudes.
Dunno what's up. Let us know if you find out.
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