Say goodbye to singing \u201cPiano Man\u201d at the top of your lungs near Fort Lauderdale\u2019s Las Olas Boulevard \u2014 and say good night to John Boy.<\/p>\n
Howl at the Moon, a dueling piano bar chain that tickled the ivories here for about a year<\/a>, permanently closed on Feb. 28, said Mike Weymouth, its landlord and president of The Las Olas Co., in a Tuesday email to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are beyond grateful for the unforgettable nights, packed dance floors, song requests, birthdays, bachelorettes and all the memories made with you,\u201d the bar posted on social media<\/a> on Feb. 26, where it initially announced its closing, and said its nearest location in Orlando will remain open.<\/p>\n In its place at 270 SE Sixth Ave.<\/a> will rise the retro dance lounge Good Night John Boy, a shag-carpeted time machine to the era of corded rotary telephones, disco balls and Farrah Fawcett posters, the Ohio-born chain bar affirmed in an emailed statement. It will mark the boogie wonderland\u2019s second South Florida location<\/a>, after one opened last May near Delray Beach\u2019s Atlantic Avenue.<\/p>\n \u201cI can happily confirm that we plan to expand GNJB into Fort Lauderdale with an expected targeted opening of October,\u201d said Michael Schwartz, co-owner and a bar spokesperson.<\/p>\n When it first debuted in December 2024, the 5,000-square-foot Howl at the Moon featured the singalong joys of \u201cSweet Caroline\u201d and took song requests backed by a seven-piece house band.<\/p>\n The restaurant-bar gave no reason for closing, abruptly shuttering two weeks before a planned St. Patrick\u2019s Day party on March 13-14, according to a Facebook post<\/a>. Howl at the Moon president Bradd O\u2019Brien could not be reached for comment despite attempts by phone and text message.<\/p>\n Howl\u2019s short-lived Fort Lauderdale return came with high expectations for a local comeback, O\u2019Brien told the Sun Sentinel in October 2024<\/a>. The brand previously had a decade-long run at Fort Lauderdale\u2019s Beach Place before closing in 2009, throwing lively dueling-piano shows fueled by tips, alcohol, bawdy jokes and comedic crosstalk that sometimes embarrassed customers.<\/p>\n To be more sensitive to modern audiences, O\u2019Brien said that Howl\u2019s revival would take fewer song requests while softening the onstage comedy bits, adding that its modern music and food menu of wings and flatbreads would also drive the bar\u2019s success.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no bits, no joking vulgar humor like we did in the past,\u201d O\u2019Brien said in a 2022 interview<\/a>. \u201cLas Olas needs quality nightlife energy and we\u2019re the ones to bring it.\u201d<\/p>\n Those with outstanding Howl reservations can email ftlevents@howlatthemoon.com, while those wanting to redeem party bookings at a different location can email nationalpm@howlatthemoon.com. Those with prepurchased gift cards can use them at remaining locations, the Feb. 26 post added.<\/p>\n Staff writer Phillip Valys can be reached at pvalys@sunsentinel.com<\/a> or X\/Twitter @philvalys<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Say goodbye to singing \u201cPiano Man\u201d at the top of your lungs near Fort Lauderdale\u2019s Las Olas Boulevard…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[1593,506,104,1594,28,688,249,251,250,114,687,109,685,106],"class_list":["post-186194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-bars","tag-broward-county","tag-entertainment","tag-explore-florida","tag-florida","tag-food-and-drink","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news","tag-latest-headlines","tag-restaurants","tag-social","tag-the-eat-beat","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}