"We opened as a family friendly Italian restaurant and realized immediately that it wasn't going to work as soon as we opened the doors," Carr explained.
In the old days when Maxwell’s was at its height,” said Carr, “it was primarily punk rock and grunge, and that was kind of back in the day when the artists could afford to live in Hoboken. Some of that’s changed and the demographics are a lot different than they used to be so we’re trying to cater to the demographics that we see in the town.”“It’s not an old broken down stage with PA systems and your feet sticking to the floor because the floor hasn’t been washed in two weeks,” said Carr. “The old place was a dive.”In seeking a new upscale concept, Carr holds little nostalgia for the Maxwell’s that was. “The place has been completely redone,” said Carr. “It’s nice, it’s clean, it’s open, the food’s good, so it’s a whole different type of atmosphere than the old Maxwell’s, where you would have the people…come in and have a hamburger and drink and spill stuff all over the floor and go into the back room and jump up and down and get their ears blasted out. This is a lot higher quality.”
This place would be perfect.
This is one of several major changes affecting the Garden State’s rock scene. The Maxwell’s news comes amid reports of behind-the-scenes turmoil at the Wellmont Theatre in Montclair; the Wellmont has no shows booked beyond June 20.