Whitney’s of Harvard Square, an area dive bar open for more than seven decades, says it is being forced to close Dec. 31 by property owner Mayhaw, a business of billionaire Gerald Chan.
The claimed reason is daytime noise levels, owner Dan McGuire said in a Friday press release, while a lawyer for the landlord says the problem is lack of payment of rent.
“Since 1953, Whitney’s remains a gathering place where friendships are forged, stories are shared and memories are made,” but in June, McGuire was “notified that an eviction was forthcoming. After months of negotiation and attempts to get clarification behind the overwhelming news, McGuire was given a final notice of eviction,” according to the press release.
The daytime noise levels were “quickly acknowledged and rectified,” according to the press release. Publicist Dominic Amenta said there had been no complaints made to Cambridge officials for Whitney’s to respond to.
“Whitney’s has always played music in accordance with our entertainment license, and we have never had to meet with the City of Cambridge and its License Commission for any noise complaint. We’re beginning to think ‘noise’ truly cannot be the reason for wanting us to leave, and leave in such a hurry, after our repeated assurances that we would keep the volume down,” said McGuire in the press release. (Chan’s company has near him, McGuire said.) “We had a good tenant-landlord relationship ever since I took ownership of my local neighborhood bar six years ago. I always defended Gerald when others in the square would inquire about his dormant buildings and venues that have gone vacant for long periods of time, for example, the Harvard Square Theater and Dickson Bros., as well as the demise of Upstairs on the Square. Never did I think we would share a similar fate.”
Rent payments
Lori A. Drayton of Drayton Law, representing Mayhaw, said Whitney’s is leaving “solely due to its failure to pay any rent since October 2023, not due to any noise issues.”
“The landlord made extensive efforts during the pandemic and after to preserve Whitney’s tenancy. Unfortunately, Whitney’s continued failure to pay any rent resulted in an amicable settlement agreement to cease operations at year end,” Drayton said. “We wish Dan well in his future endeavors.”
The rent was being withheld and put into escrow because Mayhaw promised upgrades and never followed through, and the company dropped it side of the conversation because it simply wanted Whitney’s out, McGuire said, because the ramshackle place doesn’t match the other properties in the area. A stipulation between Mayhaw and McGuire’s Fat Heady LLC shared with Cambridge Day shows the bar being forgiven $44,800 in back rent if it’s out by Jan. 15. It also calls for limits on music and noise until it closes before Jan. 1.
Whitney’s existed as bar through a period that Cambridge insisted it had none – forcing businesses to describe simple food services such as hot dogs or peanuts as having a “kitchen.” But it was beloved as a bar, described by the Harvard Crimson in 2001 as being “one of the most unique – and best” in Cambridge. “Martini maniacs may not find any fancy concoctions on the menu, but they do have beer – and three kinds of hard lemonade – for reasonable prices,” Crimson staff wrote. “Even though none of the regulars have sat in on an Ec10 lecture, they’re just as solid a part of the Harvard culture and count on Whitney’s as a hideaway from all those bratty college kids.”
Hopeful for a solution
Chan’s ownership of several sites in the square has been controversial, with the the defunct AMC Loews Harvard Square 5 on Church Street being a particular sore point back to a City Council-set deadline for action back in 2017.
Denise Jillson, executive director of the Harvard Square Business Association, said the potential shutdown of Whitney’s was “so distressing and disappointing.”
“We’re hopeful something can be worked out. Seventy-one years in Harvard Square is a really long time,” Jillson said. “We’re always hopeful.” She pointed to other legacy businesses, such as Bob Slate Stationers or the Curious George children’s bookstore, that found lifelines after an announced closing.
“A devastating close”
The Whitney’s situation is expected to be brought forward for discussion at Monday’s council meeting, Amenta said, but it is not on the agenda posted in advance. If the topic is brought forward as a late policy order, public comment might be barred by Mayor E. Denise Simmons – but McGuire said it was Simmons who agreed to file that late order.
McGuire seemed unsure Friday that City Council attention would help.
“We’ve weathered economic shifts, recessions, even a two-year pandemic, but this is a challenge we can’t overcome. While this 70-year chapter comes to a devastating close for me, my staff and our loyal patrons, the memories we’ve created together will go on,” McGuire said.
Whitney’s of Harvard Square is at 37 John F. Kennedy St.
This post was updated Dec. 13, 2024, with information from Mayhaw representative Lori A. Drayton and from a legal document and a conversation with Dan McGuire. This post was updated Dec. 17, 2024, to change wording around the location of the property offices.
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It’s truly weird to see Whitney’s described as “a dive bar.” It’s been a popular Harvard Square watering hole for years, which has always had both a strong “neighborhood” characteristic while accommodating it’s share of Harv
>>the landlord says the problem is lack of payment of rent.
I mean, who among us has not walked out on the tab at Whitney’s at one time or another?
Considering Chan’s record with other properties in the city I am far more inclined to believe the bar owner over the landlord/property manager. If updates/repairs were promised and never made than I can also see withholding rent in this situation, just as one could for any tenant/landlord situation.
I still think he is manipulating the real estate market in Harvard square to his own benefit and conspiring to affect property values at the expense of his neighbors so he can bargain buy everyone else out. Driving out small businesses that require foot traffic to survive to enhance his holdings is typical behavior that has been seen before in other areas like NYC.
We need long term vacant building fees on property owners who pull this sort of thing in our city to make them unprofitable. He’s had way too many years of being allowed to do this and legal measures need to be put in place and perhaps a move to take his properties under imminent domain as a public hazard and turn them into some of the mixed lower floor retail upper level housing that the council has been talking about as part of housing expansion in the city.
@CambridgeJoe …. to clarify one cannot simply “withhold rent”.
Just as a landlord must place deposits in an interest bearing account and return with interest….
A tenant must open an escrow account and place monthly payments within. Otherwise, they are still in violation of the lease agreement. And when taken to court they will have proof that they are within the law.
Same Noubert… it was stated in the article that an Escrow account was indeed set up and paid into. See:
“The rent was being withheld and put into escrow because Mayhaw promised upgrades and never followed through, and the company dropped it side of the conversation because it simply wanted Whitney’s out, McGuire said, because the ramshackle place doesn’t match the other properties in the area.”