Last call for nightlife in Buckhead Village

Mike ‘n’ Angelo’s, Tongue & Groove closing

Pub crawlers who harbor nostalgia for the rowdy Buckhead bar scene have only a few more weeks to enjoy a drink in their old stomping ground. By the end of July, the closing of the last of the holdout watering holes will render the Buckhead Village into a nightlife ghost town.

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Earlier this week, Mike ‘n’ Angelo’s owner Clay Parker told his staff that June 30 would be not only the venerable bar’s 19th anniversary – but also its final night in business.

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Parker was one of the last bar proprietors to strike a buyout deal with developer Ben Carter, who is spending $850 million to transform the Village from a collection of semidilapidated bars, restaurants and empty storefronts into a swank, Rodeo Drive-style shopping district.

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Carter also recently bought out Tongue & Groove, the last full-fledged nightclub left on the once-notorious Peachtree Road club strip. Owner Michael Krohngold says T&G will serve its last round July 7, after a nearly 13-year run. The bar faces a 45-day liquor-license suspension for an incident last year involving a flaming drink trick that injured a patron.

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Although T&G is suing City Hall to appeal the punishment, Krohngold says the legal troubles had a part in his decision to sell. “Initially, we told Carter we weren’t interested, but that was before we received our citation,” he says. “Business is going great, but we didn’t want that hanging over our heads.”

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Krohngold, who also owns the adjoining Jackrabbit Lounge with partner Scott Strumlauf, says they are in negotiations to reopen T&G in an as-yet-unnamed Buckhead hotel.

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Also closing soon is the Steamhouse Lounge restaurant, which will join Café Tu Tu Tango, CJ’s Landing, Frequency, Uranus, Mako’s and other restaurants and nightclubs that have recently shut down in preparation for the bulldozers. Demolition of much of the seven-acre Village could begin as early as August.

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Fittingly, the passing of the bar scene will be celebrated with alcohol-fueled revelry – an all-day block party on Bolling Way this Saturday (see See & Do).

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While Steamhouse is looking to relocate nearby, Parker says Mike ‘n’ Angelo’s has run its course. Longtime customers will be invited to retrieve the nameplates that many had tacked to the bar over the years.

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“We would’ve liked to have stayed, but it wasn’t in the cards,” Parker says. “We saw the train coming and it wasn’t going to stop.”