Jon Okonek would like to have you and your 1,099 closest friends over for drinks. And unlike most partiers with big plans, Okonek has the room to do it.
Tomorrow night marks the grand opening of Madison Avenue, a 700-person capacity bar located at 624 University Ave.-right next to Johnny O's, Okonek's other enormous downtown property at 620 University Ave.
But the new watering hole is far from \Johnny O's: Volume 2."" With its unique concept and moderately upscale design, veteran bar magnate Okonek says he hopes Madison Avenue will be his magnum opus. And while the results of his vision are mixed, there is certainly no arguing with the boldness of his gamble.
Madison Avenue resides in the former location of Club Amazon, another Okonek property. The cavernous, dance-oriented Amazon had lost much of its luster in its final months. Crowds had thinned, especially compared to its relatively new and immediately popular neighbor Johnny O's. In March, Okonek pulled the plug on the worn-down dance hall and decided to ""start with a fresh slate,"" as he put it. But after nearly eight months of preparation, the new hangout is neither a replica of Johnny O's nor an updated version of Club Amazon.
""The idea here was more of a multi-themed venue,"" Okonek said. ""There's a little bit of everything.""
A little bit of everything relating to New York or the recent past, at least. The establishment's entrance yields to a long, downward staircase and a main concourse that offers visitors a choice of three different bars: ""8-Tracks,"" ""Manhattan's"" and ""Central Park."" Each offers a different theme and a different potential ambience and experience within the same bar.
8-Tracks is the retro room. The room is designed to embody styles 10 years and older, dwelling primarily in the '80s and early '90s. This is reflected from the furniture to the jukebox, which features luminaries ranging from Van Morrison to Salt-N-Pepa.
Next is Manhattan's, a low-key martini lounge-style setup for those looking to cool out a bit. The bar will feature New York-named specialty drinks and sleek, metallic d??cor.
""This is more of a chill room to get away from the music,"" Okonek explained. ""Each room has a separate sound system, and the jukebox here is much more laid back.""
Following the central hallway then leads to Central Park, the main area of the bar. With its cavernous layout and less frilly bar, Central Park is clearly the most populist part of Madison Avenue. And both Manhattan's and 8-Tracks have walls that can be transposed to make the main stage in Central Park visible to the whole downstairs.
The stage marks the feature that most maintains the variety at Madison Avenue. The location still maintains its cabaret license-an excruciatingly rare privilege in Madison. This means it can offer both dancing and live music, which its stage will provide every Friday night. Mighty Short Bus will kick things off at the opening Friday.
But variety will not be the only contributing factor to Madison Avenue's weirdness. The bar is not really designed to emulate a New York bar. Really, it's a New York-themed bar. Broadway musical posters adorn the walls, some for shows that left Broadway years ago; a stoplight lingers in one corner. The establishment is even named for a famous stretch of Manhattan that is hardly home to any more bars than State Street. Still, Madison Avenue does not strive for authenticity, nor is that its biggest worry.
Finding an audience will be Madison Avenue's greatest concern. Johnny O's used to fill its 400-person capacity easily, but now it rarely sports a line out the door on weekend nights. With its elaborate concept, dress code-no athletic gear or logo t-shirts, etc.-and greater capacity, Madison Avenue faces even greater challenges.
And other recently opened upscale venues like the tacky Club Majestic, 115 King St., intimate Crave Lounge, 201 W. Gorham St. and superlative Kimia Lounge, 14 W. Mifflin St., have faced inconsistent crowds. The latter two at least benefit from inspired food menus, while Madison Avenue does not serve dinner (in order to avoid competition with Johnny O's). The two bars will collaborate to hold Thursday night block parties every week, when students can get half-price drinks with their school IDs.
Promotional materials for Madison Avenue advertise it as a place to find ""Food, Drinks, Music, and Saviore Faire."" The huge scale and ambition of the bar, along with its misspelling of savoir-faire, will certainly leave observers of the Madison bar scene and the downtown's elusive French population alike wondering if Okonek does, in fact, know what he's doing. But he does. And there was no chance he would aim low on this project.
""This is kind of my last hurrah, I think. These two bars will probably be my last,"" Okonek said. ""But we did it right. We've got everything you could ask for.""
One look inside Madison Avenue and there's no denying Okonek's ambition. Now it just remains for downtown Madison to see if 1,100 people are ready to be his guests.
