Mass Ave Pub's Effort to Change Name Rebuffed by License Board

For years it's been a pretty sure bet that if you showed up at 880 Mass. Ave. on any given Tuesday night you could find the regular Drumlin's crowd enjoying cold Budweisers and flying darts.

For folks like Bob Paquettan--a regular for 17 years--the Mass. Ave. watering hole has always been one of those made-for-TV settings, a pub where everyone knows your name.

But lately, names themselves have caused problems at 880 Mass. Ave.

Early in August the bar--which at that point was still called Drumlin's--was bought by two new owners. Intent on putting their own stamp on the establishment, the duo ripped the word 'Drumlin's' off the front of their building and began looking for a replacement.

But earlier this month the ambitious new owners ran into problems when their proposed replacement--"The People's Republic"--was rejected by the Cambridge License Commission.

Commission members declined to comment on the case, but the commission's executive officer, Richard V. Scali, explained that the name's light-hearted reference to Cambridge's vaunted liberalism can be seen as disrespectful of veterans.

"The reasoning was that [the name] was inappropriate and offensive to people who had fought in the Korean War, World War II or any war," Scali said, referring to soldiers who fought against communism.

Asked if he felt the decision was an overly broad interpretation of the commission's power, Scali explained that the commissioners' jurisdiction can include "the quality and character of the establishment" but that this decision was based primarily upon the commission's responsibility to maintain public safety.

"They felt the people might be offended and therefore some action might be taken at the bar," he said. "It might cause an outburst."

But back at the bar, some found the commission's logic disjointed.

"Anybody who fought in Korea wouldn't live in Cambridge," reasoned Ed Dussourd, a Malden resident who travels into Cambridge on Tuesday evenings to join his teammates in dart league competition.

Dussourd said that he is friendly with several Korean War veterans and that he doesn't believe any of them would find the bar's proposed name polemical.

He suggested the sharp rebuke had other roots.

"I bet if this place had a good reputation, they wouldn't have had a problem," he said last night as he warmed up for the evening's match. "This is Drumlin's and this is where the drunks drink at 8 o'clock in the morning."

The bar's new owners, Robert Blair and Kieran Lawler, are planning to take the case back to the License Commission on Dec. 9, but Scali seemed to think the outcome was already determined.

"My guess is that the commissioners will listen, but they won't change their decision," Scali said.

But Lawler, a silent partner to Blair, didn't seem to be fazed by his experience with Cambridge's byzantine bureaucracy.

Lawler handled the dispute this week while Blair was on a honeymoon and said that if the board rejects the name for a second time, he and his partner will happily find another moniker.

But the jocular Dubliner did seem surprised by the backlash caused by a simple name change. "So what do they want us do?" he demanded. "Put up a sign that says Da Bar?"

Da New Bar

Managing a bar may seem like a straightforward enterprise, but don't tell that to Lawler.

The Irish citizen said that he doesn't have much experience behind the bar but is clear about his philosophy.

"What I know about the bar business, you could put on the back of a small stamp... but I have 30 years experience on this side of the counter," he said, as he sipped a frothy pint earlier this week.

Lawler said that his bar--whatever the name turns out to be--will have a very strong Irish influence.

"We want to introduce the type of place where you come in, sit down and have a drink," he said. "You'll never see a band here."