Well, damn

From the ABCDDurham listserv:

The popular downtown pub and restaurant Joe and Jo's Downtown is in the process of being sold to someone who would continue to operate it as a neighborhood night spot, according to Jan Hryharrow, a longtime Durham resident who owns the building.

and:

Yes, Joe & Jo's will definitely be open through this Saturday night.

I apologize that I cannot make a public statement about Joe & Jo's and my personal situation right now.

JoAnne Worthington

Well, damn. I don't know what else to say.

Joe and Jo's is downtown Durham, in a way that none of the businesses in American Tobacco, or even Brightleaf Square, could ever be. It's not that Joe and Jo's is the place where everybody knows your name.

It's the place where everybody knows my name. There is, literally, a seat at the bar with my name on it.

Ralph Kramden would have a place at Joe and Jo's. So would Ralph Lauren. I've waited for election returns with City Council members at Joe and Jo's. I've seen the Dirty Little Heaters. I've sat at a table on the sidewalk on a warm Indian summer evening in mid-November drinking beer and listening to the belch of the buses leaving the terminal, the Amtrak whistle on the way back to Greensboro, and realized that this is our Rive Gauche.

Well, it was fun while it lasted. Let's hope the new owners are smart enough not to try to change anything, and charming enough to keep all the friends that JoAnne has made over the last 4 years.

Best wishes wherever you're off to, and thanks for everything.