Both my old friend Diana and my father wrote to inform me of the closing of the M&M bar in Butte Montana. I wrote about the M&M here, along with a couple of pictures. The passing of an era. Very sad news.
Supposedly there is a story in the Montana Standard, but I can't find it...
www.montanastandard.com/newslocal/lnews1.html
and also see the piece that ran over the AP wires this afternoon - just a little help from a friend...
Montana Bar Closes After 113 Years
By Associated Press
April 16, 2003, 2:59 PM EDT
BUTTE, Mont. -- The M&M Cigar Store, a landmark saloon for miners, gamblers and cowboys once described by beat poet Jack Kerouac as the ideal bar, closed for the first time in 113 years, right after the business manager filed for bankruptcy.
"It was not profitable any more," said Charles Bugni, 78, who had leased the business for nearly three decades. "This isn't a young man's joint and the old-timers are passing away."
Last call for drinks came at 7:17 p.m. Tuesday, and the doors were locked a few minutes after 8 p.m. Many of the patrons were crying. Those who tried to take mementoes were stopped by a bankruptcy trustee.
The M&M was the most celebrated bar in a roaring, wide-open Western town filled with bars. Back in the days when Butte's copper mines ran 24 hours a day, the saloons ran 24 hours a day to serve miners. It was a tradition the M&M never surrendered, even when the mines shut down.
The owners of the M&M, Patricia Lisac, and her mother, Patricia Delmoe, said they tried to help Bugni stay in business but said he hadn't paid regular rent since 1997 and owed back taxes.
"This is the last thing in the world I wanted to do," Lisac said.
Beat poet Jack Kerouac visited the M&M Bar and described it for Esquire magazine in 1970: "What characters in there: old prospectors, gamblers, whores, miners, Indians, cowboys, tobacco-chewing businessmen! ... It was the end of my quest for an ideal bar."
Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press
Thanks mystery stranger.
glad to be of help. one thing I can do with some success is search the internet for news items.
this is very sad news.
grilled cheese sandwich with dill pickles, FRENCH fries with brown gravey, and pbr in a can from the bar. my heart is broken.
I really cannot imagine this place ceasing to exist. There are so many
people who love the M&M. How is it possible that one of those
people, or a group of people would not intervene and save the place?
The closing of the M&M and the death of Mr. Rogers are sure signs of the impending end of the world!
Repent! The End is near!
My girlfriend and I were in Butte in August and saw the for sale sign. I took some pictures and told her NO WAY would the M&M ever close down! I remember looking in the door as a kid in the '60s and drank in it the '90s.Huge bummer.
BUTTE - Gov. Brian Schweitzer hand-delivered a new liquor license to the owner of the landmark M&M Cigar Store on Thursday, and used bolt cutters to snip the chain that has held the saloon's doors shut for nearly two years.
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Supposedly there is a story in the Montana Standard, but I can't find it...
- jim 4-18-2003 7:27 pm
www.montanastandard.com/newslocal/lnews1.html
and also see the piece that ran over the AP wires this afternoon - just a little help from a friend...
Montana Bar Closes After 113 Years
By Associated Press
April 16, 2003, 2:59 PM EDT
BUTTE, Mont. -- The M&M Cigar Store, a landmark saloon for miners, gamblers and cowboys once described by beat poet Jack Kerouac as the ideal bar, closed for the first time in 113 years, right after the business manager filed for bankruptcy.
"It was not profitable any more," said Charles Bugni, 78, who had leased the business for nearly three decades. "This isn't a young man's joint and the old-timers are passing away."
Last call for drinks came at 7:17 p.m. Tuesday, and the doors were locked a few minutes after 8 p.m. Many of the patrons were crying. Those who tried to take mementoes were stopped by a bankruptcy trustee.
The M&M was the most celebrated bar in a roaring, wide-open Western town filled with bars. Back in the days when Butte's copper mines ran 24 hours a day, the saloons ran 24 hours a day to serve miners. It was a tradition the M&M never surrendered, even when the mines shut down.
The owners of the M&M, Patricia Lisac, and her mother, Patricia Delmoe, said they tried to help Bugni stay in business but said he hadn't paid regular rent since 1997 and owed back taxes.
"This is the last thing in the world I wanted to do," Lisac said.
Beat poet Jack Kerouac visited the M&M Bar and described it for Esquire magazine in 1970: "What characters in there: old prospectors, gamblers, whores, miners, Indians, cowboys, tobacco-chewing businessmen! ... It was the end of my quest for an ideal bar."
Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press
- anonymous (guest) 4-19-2003 1:17 am
Thanks mystery stranger.
- jim 4-19-2003 1:33 am
glad to be of help. one thing I can do with some success is search the internet for news items.
- anonymous (guest) 4-19-2003 2:12 am
this is very sad news.
- sarah 4-19-2003 5:51 pm
grilled cheese sandwich with dill pickles, FRENCH fries with brown gravey, and pbr in a can from the bar. my heart is broken.
- anonymous (guest) 4-20-2003 7:05 pm
I really cannot imagine this place ceasing to exist. There are so many
people who love the M&M. How is it possible that one of those
people, or a group of people would not intervene and save the place?
- sarah 4-20-2003 7:39 pm
The closing of the M&M and the death of Mr. Rogers are sure signs of the impending end of the world!
Repent! The End is near!
- Vinnie Sez (guest) 4-26-2003 2:45 am
My girlfriend and I were in Butte in August and saw the for sale sign. I took some pictures and told her NO WAY would the M&M ever close down! I remember looking in the door as a kid in the '60s and drank in it the '90s.Huge bummer.
- anonymous (guest) 10-30-2003 4:34 am
BUTTE - Gov. Brian Schweitzer hand-delivered a new liquor license to the owner of the landmark M&M Cigar Store on Thursday, and used bolt cutters to snip the chain that has held the saloon's doors shut for nearly two years.
- dave 3-15-2005 4:17 pm