Joe's Cafe Vows To Be Back Soon After City Visit, Canceled Show

For 21 years, Joe's Cafe (6104 Kingsbury Avenue) has been one St. Louis' most hidden hidden gems, a top-notch music venue and a bar with a major quirk: It doesn't actually sell booze. If a BYOB bar sounds weird to you, well, you're overdue for a visit to Joe's — but hey, it's only open on Thursdays.

And tonight, a Thursday, it won't even be open. The venue, begun by artist Bill Christman in 2003, has been the subject of increasing alarm on social media in recent months, with rumors the city wants to shut the place down and, recently, a series of concerts positioned as fundraisers. When tonight's concert was canceled, the rumor mill went into overdrive.

Nancy Hawes, a local attorney who has been involved with the situation on Christman's behalf, says there is no cause for alarm. Yes, the quirks of Joe's zoning have become an issue for the bar as late, due to the need to change some terms of its liquor license, as the city has suggested its longtime home on Kingsbury Avenue should have a multi-family classification, not the commercial one it's enjoyed for decades.

But, she says, a recent hearing went well, and she has every confidence that the one scheduled before the Board of Adjustment on February 21 — in which Joe's will be appealing the city's determination of multi-family zoning — will go well, too. "Bill is doing what needs to be done to get all of the required permits and licenses," she says. "He has support in the neighborhood."

Hawes acknowledges that a city inspector did visit Joe's and suggest that because the venue was not fully permitted and licensed at this point, they might not want to host tonight's show. "Out of an abundance of caution," she says, Joe's decided to cancel tonight's show. "We don't want to be operating a facility if the city hasn't approved it. But we're hoping to get an inspector out tomorrow and be open next week." (She notes that likely means multiple inspectors — plumbing, electrical and fire — but she's still hopeful.)

Overall, Hawes is insistent that Christman and Joe's Cafe will weather this particular bureaucratic "kerfuffle," and she's eager to take the temperature online down a notch.

"This is all standard stuff," she says. "It's been made out to be cryptic and clandestine and political. This is not a political fight. We're seeking support, yes, but we're playing ball and doing what needs to be done, and hopefully that will take care of it."

An artist who collaborated with City Museum founder Bob Cassilly and also created Cherokee Street's longtime signature statue (a piece for which he later expressed regrets), Christman began Joe's as a place for his musician friends to play. While it initially drew his own friends, the joy of a night on the premises soon got out. The RFT named Joe's Cafe the city's "best-kept secret" in 2007.

Christman has repeatedly declined an interview to discuss the permitting situation with the city, and Hawes said he is currently traveling but looking forward to sorting things out upon his return. She made clear the Facebook posts about Joe's status have come from the music promoters now booking acts for Christman and that she believes they have "needlessly stirred up drama that need not be there."



Subscribe to Riverfront Times newsletters.

Follow us: Apple News |  Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed