Nighttown in Cleveland Heights to Close This Week Less Than a Year After Reopening

After two years of construction delays, complications and improvements, Nighttown (12383 Cedar Rd.) reopened late last year under the ownership of the Red Restaurant Group. The historic Cleveland Heights jazz club and restaurant had closed in March of 2020 after 60 years.

“We had to preserve the way it looked,” explained Gregg Levy of Red at the time. “We weren’t going to do this unless it was Nighttown. It’s not Red, it’s Nighttown.”

But sadly, today we are learning that the restaurant will close after service on Sunday August 25th.

A representative for the restaurant confirmed the closing. In a statement, Gregg Levy said:

"The management and ownership of Nighttown have made the difficult decision to close the restaurant effective August 25, 2024. While we enjoyed the journey of preserving the spirit of Nighttown and greatly improving and enhancing the underlying infrastructure and facilities, while attempting to usher in the new era of patrons, the challenges brought upon by delays, construction difficulties and unforeseen circumstances made it clear to us that it was time to pass the baton to a new stewardship. We are working with several interested parties in hopes of finding a new author to write the next chapter of this James Joyce script (Ulysses in Nighttown…); in the meantime, we will concentrate our efforts on our flagship fine dining restaurants, Red, the Steakhouse in downtown Cleveland and Red, the Steakhouse in Pinecrest. While we hope to find the next operator in due time, rest assure that many of the experiences, recipes and even staff from our time at Nighttown will be shared with our Red restaurants; we hope to see you there."

John Barr opened the legendary club back in 1965. The torch was passed to longtime owner Brendan Ring 20-plus years ago. In 2021, he sold the property and the business. The property sat idle for two years until the Red Group took over and began renovations.

Ring said at the time of the sale that what sealed the deal was the new owners’ commitment to preserving the legacy that Ring and Barr had cultivated since 1965.

“They told me that they’d like to keep Nighttown, to keep the essence of Nighttown the same and maybe upgrade it and do, in my opinion, some much-needed renovations,” Ring explained. “They made it clear to me that they wanted to keep Nighttown and I liked that about this particular group.”

We’ll keep you updated on this developing story.

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