Sale House

Didn't know Mission Ale House was closing this week? Hey, don't worry, neither did the people who work there. "I was out of town spreading my father's ashes, and came home to no job," says Johnny Van Wyk, who this year closed his club Johnny V's and moved his live-music bookings to Mission, where he was general manager. Once a popular hangout for college students and 49ers—quarterback Jeff Garcia drank his way to a DUI there—"Mission Male House," as it came to be known to a sexually frustrated dating crowd, was a victim of hard times—the latest in a wave of downtown bar and restaurant closures. "For those guys, it's a fire sale," Van Wyk says. However, Dan Doherty, who transformed the former eyesore, Dot's Bar and Grill, into an anchor of downtown's nightlife for almost 14 years, says the sale shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone.Negotiations had been going on for quite some time. "There was an ABC transfer-of-ownership sign up for two months," he says. The sale hasn't finalized yet, but if there were some lapses in communication, it may very well have been because Doherty himself had become so frustrated with the situation. He says after his Mission experience, he won't be doing business in San Jose again. "I'm sick of the city and the police and the code enforcement that ran us out of business," he says. "They don't want small businesses—not ones that serve alcohol, anyway." The new owners, a group led by local investor Freddy Jackson, are operating under a temporary license and officially are simply closing in November for "renovations." But no one knows yet what direction they're going to take the bar. As of now, Mission's last call is Sunday, Nov. 1. That's sad news for the local music scene, which had been getting more and more comfortable with Mission as a live space. "It was a complete surprise to everybody," insists Denver Nitze of Deez Nitze Productions, who had been booking acts there since last summer. "It hit me pretty hard. I had several shows booked." For now, Van Wyk has picked up some shifts at Smoke Tiki Lounge, and Nitze is rerouting as many shows as possible to Mountain Charley's in Los Gatos.

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