The Sidelines old sign, on Arcata’s Ninth Street facing the Plaza. File photo.


PREVIOUSLY:

###

The words, whispered, went for a trip. From lip to lip went the tip: The Sidelines, they said, is returning, only away for a blip. 

The true believers were eager to gather again. The commentariat weighed in: 

“I met my wife there 😂 great times that I mostly don’t remember,” one guy reminisced. “Excellent news!” said another. Emigrants mused making a return of their own to check it out. A surefire professional, Doctor Booze, offered their opinion: “Hell yea.”

Sorry, erstwhile barflies and the good doctor, but the Outpost comes with news: the fate of the Sidelines is in question. We checked owner Salvatore Costanzo’s liquor license application status with the state’s Department of Alcohol Beverage Control, and he withdrew it last week. 

Reached by phone yesterday, Costanzo didn’t have much to say and shared few details. He declined to say why he’d pulled the application, and asked us to check in again in a couple months. 

Is this the end? He’s not sure. 

“We’ll see how it goes,” he said.

It was a long shot from the start. In 2018, a months-long Arcata Police Department investigation showed that bar employees and patrons were selling drugs out of the Sidelines and Toby and Jack’s, another Costanzo-owned bar down the street. Nine patrons and three employees were arrested. At the time, both Costanzo and his son, Michael Costanzo, who managed much of the day-to-day operations at the bar, claimed they were unaware of the drug activity taking place. The ABC yanked his liquor licenses in 2020. 

But Costanzo wanted to try again, and he applied for permission to buy a license from Glendale bar Louie’s in June this year. The backlash was close to immediate — Sherie Potter, the manager of the Hotel Arcata a few doors down, filed a complaint with the ABC before the month was out — but Arcata City Hall had high hopes for a reopening. Costanzo had operated the  Myrtlewood Lounge in Eureka without issues for years, and it seemed like the right time to forgive him. 

“It might seem strange that it came to a point of impasse before, where it resulted in the city asking for those liquor licenses away, but I think we’re in a different space now,” Arcata City Manager Merritt Perry told the Outpost in June. “And Sal’s in a different place now, where we would like to work together, and he would like to see that come back to this. He’d like to bring that business back to the community, and he’s very passionate about it…I think it’ll be an opportunity to kind of see a long-time, loved business come back in a positive way for the community, and for Mr. Costanzo as well.”

We’ll shed a tear for the thirsty boozehounds, who only have 359 places to get a drink in Humboldt County.