R.I.P. Normal Street Bar

Walking past the slightly inaccurately named Normal Street Bar on Monday yielded an interesting surprise — the longtime watering hole on Normal Avenue has closed its doors.

Blank spots marked where the bar’s signage was taken down including the iconic lamppost logo. The interior appeared to be in slight disarray. On the windows were a handful of signs saying something like, “Re-opening soon — a cleaner establishment.”

I had only been in Normal Street a handful of times, but it didn’t seem that awful to me and certainly not “unclean.” I know the carpet had a bad rap until they got rid of it.

I heard some chatter over the weekend that the Normal Street Bar was closing — primarily from a doorman at another bar who was loudly talking about it over his phone Saturday night. I walked over there to see if it was true. The Normal Street doorman couldn’t confirm anything at the time, but firsthand observation on Monday provided confirmation.

Do you have any favorite memories of Normal Street? Feel free to leave your comments here.