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Karaoke patrons pitch in to save favorite bar Baby Grand – Metro US

Karaoke patrons pitch in to save favorite bar Baby Grand

Google Maps screen grab When your favorite bar is about to close, you have to take drastic action. Credit: Google Maps

When the place where everybody knows your name is going out of business, it’s a serious business.

For drinking buddies Joey Park and Reed Smidebush, Baby Grand was more than just a karaoke bar.

“Bars are usually one-night stands,” Park told the Wall Street Journal. “But this was like falling in love and getting married.”

When the friends learned that the Lafayette Street establishment was set to crank its last tune at the end of the year due to rising costs, they decided drastic action was needed to keep it open. In spite of the fact that neither of them has ever managed a bar, they enlisted a third partner to join them in taking over the lease.

The men, who plan to keep their day jobs while running Baby Grand, acknowledge that taking over the bar was more a personal decision than a business-minded one.

“It’s the only bar we’d ever want to own,” Smidebush said.

Follow Emily Johnson on Twitter @emilyjreports