[Tim]

AJ's Bar & Grill closes; demolition begins

Laurie Wink
The News-Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY - For nearly 40 years, locals went to 2317 Franklin St. for food, booze and live bands. Now the location is being transformed into a state-of-the art optometry business.

Bulldozers on site this week have been knocking out sections of the building that formerly housed AJ's Bar & Grill and, before that, the Cedar Tap.

The property was sold last fall to Midwest Eye Consultants and the bar's liquor license was sold to Olive Garden for its new restaurant farther south on Franklin Street.

After major remodeling is completed sometime next spring, Midwest Eye Consultants will open a new eye care center, said regional manager Ashley Laberge. Midwest Eye Consultants has 28 locations in Indiana, including 21 offices of optometry, five surgical facilities, a lens production lab and a nursing home division.

Local optometrist Carl Golightly sold his practice to Midwest Eye Consultants and now works part-time for the company. Golightly had an optometry practice at 815 Washington St. for 44 years and said the new facility will be larger, better equipped and more centrally located. It also will be handicapped accessible - something lacking in the old building.

"The facility I had was OK for me in that era," Golightly said, "but the new one will be a real first class facility."

Nathan Hoover is heading the local private group practice of Midwest Eye Consultants and has worked with Golightly for more than three years.

"He's provided great service to Michigan City for a long time," he said about Golightly.

The new eye care center will be equipped with the latest computerized and digitized tools for diagnosis and treatment of conditions such as macular degeneration and glaucoma, Hoover said.

"We're excited to bring a great level of eye care and technology to Michigan City," he said. "It will be a practice of the future."

Plenty of Michigan City residents remember the past at AJ's and Cedar Tap. Keith and Debbie Rigterink owned and operated Cedar Tap for 28 years and created a loyal following of local customers. Cedar Tap regularly featured area rock bands, including The Rock Doctors and The Ledge.

Nine years ago, the Rigterinks sold their business to April Deer and Jordon Sklut, who did some remodeling and opened AJ's Bar & Grill. Deer and Sklut kept the tradition of live music but shifted the focus to retro bands and blues acts. They also continued the popular sub shop adjacent to the bar, renaming it AJ's Sub Shop, which also closed.
________________________________

It seems like a lot of MC institutions are biting the big one lately - here's another one. Time marches on and all - but I still find it sad. I started playing at the Cedar Tap when I was 17. We were too young to be in the bar, so on breaks we had to either go directly into the kitchen or outside. The Tap was a great place for a local band to play - six nights and no travel expenses. My last band, The Lazer Band, played there regularly. After I moved to Los Angeles it was the site of many a Lazer Band reunion whenever I'd come home. The staff was pretty great too - closing time was always funny. Two or three female bartenders, who were pretty sweet during operating hours, would suddenly start screaming GET THE FXXK OUT! when the house lights went up. It was a great place and a great time in Michigan City.

[taxthedeer]

________________________________

It seems like a lot of MC institutions are biting the big one lately - here's another one. Time marches on and all - but I still find it sad. I started playing at the Cedar Tap when I was 17. We were too young to be in the bar, so on breaks we had to either go directly into the kitchen or outside. The Tap was a great place for a local band to play - six nights and no travel expenses. My last band, The Lazer Band, played there regularly. After I moved to Los Angeles it was the site of many a Lazer Band reunion whenever I'd come home. The staff was pretty great too - closing time was always funny. Two or three female bartenders, who were pretty sweet during operating hours, would suddenly start screaming GET THE FXXK OUT! when the house lights went up. It was a great place and a great time in Michigan City.

I heard on WEFM yesterday that AJ's had sold their liquor license to Olive Garden.

[Tim]

I heard on WEFM yesterday that AJ's had sold their liquor license to Olive Garden.

Perhaps you also read that in the article above.

[JHeath]

I heard on WEFM yesterday that AJ's had sold their liquor license to Olive Garden.

Just yesterday? That happened a LONG time ago...otherwise, Olive Garden probably wouldn't have been here.