Janie's Crying

No, this doesn't have to do with Van Halen.

It has to do with David Allen - not just a gigolo, not Diamond Dave, but the local Daily Bulletin columnist.

Specifically, this has to do with something from one of Allen's readers:

Reader Shirley Wofford writes:

"Do you think you could come up with any information on...Janie's Sports Lounge, formerly in Montclair?...

"Janie's Sports Lounge was a fixture at the strip mall anchored by Stater Bros. Market (Montclair's only supermarket) for many years and was very popular with its regulars. I was not a patron, but it always seemed to be an integral part of that neighborhood."

Allen then commented:

The owner of Janie's, Janie McLaren, sent me a nice note a year or so ago, inviting me in for lunch sometime. Sorry to say, I never took advantage of the offer. Oh well. Anyone able to share any memories of the place?

My apologies to Barbeques Galore fans - I am extremely focused here. And Mo was also focused in a comment:

I am so sorry to hear Janie's is no more. I only went in a few times but it seemed to be a nice little place. Janie is a very sweet lady. I met her about 20 years ago when she was a bartender at the Hi-Brow in Claremont/Pomona.

I searched various review sites, including Yelp, but was hard-pressed to even find a review of the place, much less an account of its closure. Eventually, I found two reviews at Insider Pages. The first dates from 2006:

Local bar
By Sula V. | Insider | Rank: 22,363
Awesome local bar with lots of regulars. Two pool tables with many worthy opponents and a shuffleboard. Good live music on weekends, cool mini-pitchers of beer.

First Review! Posted 09/26/06

The only other review was from a few months ago:

fun
By Andrea K. | Insider Expert | Rank: 2,968
fun place to go and have drink.. place game and just hang out with friends. i went here a few times and everyone is incredibly nice! you will have a good time here and i recommend going

Posted 09/06/08

I haven't gone to the site to confirm Janie's demise, but I trust David Allen and figure that it's too late to go.