A new era

Remodeled Mac’s Bar prepares for reopening

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Mac’s Bar used to be a dark and dingy place. The watering hole almost felt like a portal to the land of grimy, long-gone punk rock clubs like CBGB in New York City.

But the next time locals walk into the bar at 2700 E. Michigan Avenue, the vibe will be very different. 

Gone are the boarded-up windows. A new tin ceiling shines high above, adorned with gleaming crown moldings and LED recessed can lights. The once battered walls were removed, revealing newly-exposed brick — freshly stripped and sandblasted. 

Vintage wood doors sourced from Ypsilanti have been repurposed for the bar. The stage remains in the same spot, though it is now a bit bigger. And while this establishment has been pouring beers since the 1930s, and has remained a place to socialize for generations of residents, the current owner, Chuck Mannino, said he is excited about this new era. He has owned it since 2006, but he was a loyal bar patron before taking the reins. 

When he was a Michigan State University student, he and his wife, Lisa, were introduced to Mac’s after becoming active in local music. He said they also frequented other go-to venues, like The Small Planet on M.A.C. Avenue in downtown East Lansing.

The Small Planet is long gone, but Mac’s Bar lives on. Along with mainstays like The Green Door and The Avenue Café, the return of Mac’s is once again solidifying Michigan Avenue as the spot for live music in Lansing.

“I always gravitated towards live music, so when I discovered Mac’s Bar and lived on the east side, I became a regular customer. I loved it,” Mannino said. When he heard the bar was in financial trouble, “I immediately jumped at the chance to buy it.”

That was 2005.

“My goal was to bring the town the best, most eclectic music,” Mannino said. “Mac’s was always hardcore. I kept many of the same metal bands but also brought in electronic and hippie music. I continued to carry the torch for all genres of metal and punk rock and folk music.

“We had all-ages shows in the late afternoon,” he added. “We had comedy night, electronic music night, and so much great stuff.”

But Mac’s Bar wasn’t always a live music venue. It began as a saloon owned by Clare “Mac” Mackenzie in the 1940s. Roughly 50 years later, in 1995, Michigan punk legend (and Etch Magazine founder) Kenny Knot began booking music for the bar, then owned by Paul Fata, who sold it to Mannino.

Since then, it has hosted critically acclaimed, yet still emerging, musicians and performers, like Mastodon, The Devil Wears Prada, Greensky Bluegrass, Blue Cheer, Manchester Orchestra, Macklemore, GriZ. The list is long, and wide-ranging, with everything from metal, folk, singer-songwriter, electronic, hip-hop, ska, and roots bands taking the stage.  

When COVID hit, the bar was shuttered for over a year — an opportunity for the Manninos to do something they’d long dreamed of.

The completely revamped room, owned by Chuck Mannino, now showcases its original brick walls and has a new ceiling, custom bar, televisions for sports games and more.
The completely revamped room, owned by Chuck Mannino, now showcases its original brick walls and has a new ceiling, custom bar, televisions for …
“My wife and I decided we should remodel the bar,” he said. “We always wanted to, and we talked about doing it, but there was no window to do it except during the summer months. We thought we’d be closed one summer when students were gone — that would be the slowest time. But we never had the guts to do it. When COVID made us close, we thought, ‘let’s go for it.’”
Unfortunately, remodeling has been moving much slower than anticipated. “COVID shut us down for a year, or a year and a half maybe, and then the remodeling took about a year,” Mannino said. 

Besides cosmetics, Mannino said there were also numerous structural problems, requiring almost everything to be redone, from electrical to plumbing.
 “Every surface has gotten a facelift,” he said. “We took down a lot of the distressed materials, the drywall, the drop ceiling, the plywood, the Formica bar and stuff like that. We went back to the original brick walls and ripped the ceiling out to reveal the original 12-foot-high ceiling. We’re doing the hardwood floors. We built a whole new wooden bar. We built a new stage. It’s going to be great.”

Another previously notorious spot some concertgoers dared venture into — the bathroom — has also been gutted. Gone are the Sharpie-graffitied stalls and band-sticker plastered walls. The revamped look boasts new live-edge slabs of wood, reclaimed-tree countertops from Mason and stainless-steel sinks with LED-light faucets.

Sneak peek at interior detail.
Sneak peek at interior detail.
Sneak peek at interior detail.
Sneak peek at interior detail.
The interior space had old, wood-covered windows, creating a cavernous atmosphere. Now, light once again shines through the room. “We ripped off all the wood to expose the windows, and a lot of the brickwork had to be rebuilt because the front of the building was sagging,” he said. “That’s another thing that took so long. We had to do some major repairs to the building.”

Outside, there’s a new paint job, additional lighting, a new Mac’s sign and awnings. “In the spring, we’re going to make an outdoor hangout area in the back, with games and things like that, along with a privacy fence around it,” Mannino said. 

Mac’s Bar has a soft opening planned for Monday. The 9 p.m. event marks the return of an old weekly staple: Mac’s Monday Comedy Night. The official grand opening is planned for Nov. 12, with Kids Under the Carpet, a Phish tribute band from Detroit.

Exterior view of renovated Mac's Bar, 2700 East Michigan Ave., Lansing,
Exterior view of renovated Mac's Bar, 2700 East Michigan Ave., Lansing,
Exterior view of renovated Mac's Bar, 2700 East Michigan Ave., Lansing,
Exterior view of renovated Mac's Bar, 2700 East Michigan Ave., Lansing,
Once reopened, Mannino said he hopes the bar can also attract sports fans to come and cheer on MSU teams, thanks to the addition of new televisions. There will also be two pool tables, foosball, a few pinball machines and a new internet jukebox. There’s even talk of bringing food into the mix, especially since Theio’s Restaurant next door closed in 2018. 

“We want to eventually open up a Detroit-style pizza restaurant in the loft next door to Mac’s,” he said. “It will have a hole cut in the wall, and it’ll serve Mac’s Bar pizza. That’s my goal.” Mannino aims to open it in nine months. In the meantime, he hopes to transform the space, formerly apartments, into an arcade bar.

Along with the comedy night, other planned programming includes Neon Tuesday, a long-running DJ and electronic music night, also live music on Fridays and Saturdays. Mannino, who is booking the talent now, is still determining if more live music will return more often. However, he hopes to host more battles of the bands and all-ages shows. 

With other local venues like The Loft closing, the number of places an up-and-coming musician or comedian can perform has dwindled in the Capital City. Some nontraditional businesses have popped up, offering shows, including Double Clutch Lounge in Okemos and The Junction on Clippert Street.  Beyond that, Downtown Lansing is shooting for a performing arts center. Across the way on Washington Square, another live-event venue, Hall 224, is planning a springtime opening.
Still, even with a burst of competition on the horizon, Mac’s will likely re-find its natural niche since its long-served as a launching pad for local, regional, and now nationally touring bands’ careers. For some, it was the first stage they ever stepped on — their first real gig. 

Lansing-area comic Pat Sievert had only done comedy for a few months before the weekly Mac’s Monday Night Comedy show started in May 2012. Sievert showed up weekly and eventually earned an official spot on the recurring standup show. 

“The show grew slowly,” he said. “At first, the crowds were small, but within the first two years or so, we grew our audience and had weekly regulars. Once the show was established, comedians started recording albums and a few filmed sets to submit for televised shows because they knew our crowds were reliably great.”

Sievert said he’s excited to see the weekly comedy night return. “I hope we can have a show to give new comics a place to work on their craft and more veteran comics a place to try new things and keep developing. We had a great audience before the pandemic closed us down — people I looked forward to seeing every week and hoping to see a lot of them again. Mac’s was definitely the place that brought the community together.”

Mannino said his goal is to maintain Mac’s Bar’s eclectic history, offering everything from rock ’n’ roll to rap and heavy metal to Americana.
“Everyone got along and rubbed shoulders with everyone,” he recalled. “It was just a place that made everyone feel good. The new Mac’s is going to be lots of fun too.”

For updates on shows at Mac's Bar, visit macsbar.com.

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