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Shards of glass and cigarette butts line the alley leading from the back parking lot to Harlow Street in downtown Bangor. A glimpse through a dead-bolted door reveals a vacant hallway. Neon wristbands and dust bunnies litter the grey, carpeted floor.
Once sharing the 190 Harlow St. address with Diversified Ink tattoo parlor and Diva’s Gentleman’s Club, Club Ice Jazz and Martini Bar seems to have disappeared, and so has owner Eddie Hunt.
“Last time I had heard, they had moved out,” a Diversified Ink employee said of Club Ice.
Club Ice opened in late September 2009. According to a Nov. 9 article in The Maine Campus, Hunt, 37, leased the venue from Patrick and Matt Brann, owners of former Club Gemini — Club Ice’s predecessor.
Modeled after nightclubs in large U.S. cities, the club had a curtained VIP area, jazz martini lounge and large dance floor. Hunt anticipated the club’s future success. Club Ice’s lounge was separated from the main floor by a soundproof door, a reminder of the former Club Gemini, which drew anger and noise complaints from area residents.
According to former Club Ice bartender Erica Savage, she “did not even know” the club had closed its doors to patrons until a co-worker told her. According to a rumor from employees, the club was moving and would begin serving food in order to fulfill Maine state liquor license requirements, which state a liquor-serving establishment must have a full kitchen and be able to serve hot and cold foods. Savage said no such plans appear to be in motion.
Savage had been working at the club for approximately one month, under the table, mostly serving beer and washing dishes. She was not the only one working this way.
On Jan. 9, the club was hit by a sting raid by Bangor Police Department Special Enforcement Team.
“Around 11 p.m., they came in and ID’d everyone,” Savage said.
“We check that they’re not serving [alcohol] to minors,” said Sgt. Brad Johnston, head of SET.
He explained the team checks area bars, convenience stores and restaurants “on a regular basis.”
A three-man operation that started in November 2009, SET is funded in part through a grant from the Bangor Health and Community Services Department, as stated in a Feb. 23 Bangor Daily News article.
Hunt’s girlfriend, 20-year-old Anastasia Dietze, received the brunt of the sting: three summonses for serving alcohol to a minor, according to Johnston. Two counts were for serving underage club patrons, with the third count for serving an off-duty and underage co-worker, Johnston said.
He said that Dietze did not know of her co-worker’s underage status.
After a successful New Year’s party, Club Ice faded from Bangor’s nightlife scene. On the club’s MySpace page, event postings halted abruptly after Jan. 10, the night after the SET sting. The club phone number, which had been identified as Hunt’s cell phone number in a previous interview for the Nov. 9 issue of The Maine Campus, is no longer connected to the subscriber, as stated by a phone service provider voice-over. In addition, the club’s Twitter page has been disabled.
Savage said Hunt, Dietze and their approximately 7-month-old baby are currently in Alabama, but Hunt could not be reached for comment.
Bangor’s ABM Mechanical Inc. is a full-service mechanical contracting firm contracted to do basic plumbing and heating installations. The firm wonders where Hunt is, according to ABM employee Elizabeth Rassi. Rassi cannot confirm nor deny whether Hunt, as the firm’s client, has an outstanding balance. She did confirm the club’s mechanical upgrade and installation took place in September and October of 2009, around the time the club opened.
“[The club is] the biggest venue in Bangor,” Hunt said in the Nov. 9 Maine Campus article. “It’s been a rocky, slow beginning, but it’s starting to pick up,” he added.
It looks as if the rocky beginning never smoothed over for Hunt and his club. Club Ice’s “Twisted Tuesdayz” regulars and “Sex on Tha Beach” fans are in discontent — it does not look like Club Ice will re-open its doors.
