Combo nightclub/bowling alley proposal for DeHart Street before Morristown council tonight

Three story house at 10 DeHart St., center, could make way for a bowling/nightclub combo if a proposal does not land in the gutter. Image: Google Earth.
Three story house at 10 DeHart St., center, could make way for a bowling/nightclub combo if a proposal does not land in the gutter. Image: Google Earth.
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The Walsh family, whose members own three bars in Morristown, want to put a new spin on local nightlife–the spin of bowling balls.

Hoping to ride a Manhattan trend that mixes partying and bowling, Billy Walsh aims to put a bowling nightclub at 10 DeHart St., replacing a 117-year-old house that was moved there from Pine Street a decade ago.

Lawyers involved with the proposal are scheduled to sound out the town council tonight, April 10, about whether the council might allow transfer of a liquor license from the former Colonial Bar and Liquors on Washington Street to DeHart Street.

If the license transfer is approved, further approvals will be sought from the planning board, according to a letter from attorney Robert Williams to Council President Michelle Dupree Harris.

Three story house at 10 DeHart St., center, could make way for a bowling/nightclub combo if a proposal does not land in the gutter. Image: Google Earth.
Three-story house at 10 DeHart St., center, could make way for a bowling/nightclub combo if a proposal does not land in the gutter. Image: Google Earth.

Preliminary drawings indicate the new structure would have six lanes of bowling and a bar on each of two floors, with another bar on the roof.

The house at 10 DeHart, a commercial office, would be moved again, Billy said, though to where is unclear.

“The building is very easy to move. It’s been moved before. It would be a waste to knock it down. Two people have offered to take it,” he said, declining to name them.

In 2002 the house was bought for $1 by Peter Kaphouris, owner of the London World Connection hair salon, and moved from Pine Street to make room for an expansion by the Mayo Performing Arts Center, then known as the Community Theatre.

Large crowds gathered on a rainy day to soak up the spectacle of a four-bay, gambrel-roofed house being hauled along South Street.  The structure was a private residence from 1895 until after World War II. Later, several businesses were tenants.

According to Robert Williams’ letter, the liquor license is owned by Gracie Sunshine LLC, which would become a tenant in a building to be purchased by WCGP LLC.

Billy said Gracie Sunshine comprises his wife Susan, David Gsell and Chris Knoll, while Billy is the one under contract to purchase the property.

David and Chris are partners in Sona Thirteen on South Street.  Billy said he not a partner there and no longer is a partner at the Dark Horse Lounge on DeHart Street, either. His family also owns Tashmoo, another bar on DeHart.

The new club, if its gets rolling, will target 30-ish patrons, said Billy, who is more bullish than ever about Morristown.

“Morristown was always a destination. Roots and Urban Table (restaurants that opened last year) have made it a cooler destination… They brought a whole new crowd in,” he said.

Some area businesses have clashed with the Walsh family about cleaning up the mess left by weekend bar crowds. Robert Williams represented the Dark Horse Lounge when the council suspended its liquor license for the Labor Day holiday in 2010.  That same year, a woman moved her public relations business from the DeHart Street office to Cedar Knolls, citing problems with bar patrons.

Bowling, popular in the 1950s and ’60s, has made a trendy comeback at places like Lucky Strike New York, the Frames Bowling Lounge in Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bowl.  Morristown had at least three bowling alleys in prior decades. Herman’s was at 161 Speedwell Ave., and there also were lanes in what is now a roller rink on Dumont Place.

As a boy, Wendell Brady said he re-set bowling pins at a YMCA alley formerly at the corner of Washington Street and Western Avenue.

“They were pretty loud. Even when the windows were closed in wintertime, you could hear them outside. I defy anybody to tell me that’s not true,” said Wendell, a resident in the Franklin Corners section of town.

 

 

4 COMMENTS

  1. Yah Jon, I’ve heard that name a few times. What other establishments do they have their hands in?

  2. Billy is now saying he has nothing to do with sona and dark horse he must have been reading the ABC laws where it said you can not have 2 or more bars in the same town. We all know he still has something to do wit all of them that would be 5. When is the state going to get involved and stop this?

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