Bandersnatch

Online at
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/tempe/articles/0926BandersnatchZ10.html

Whatever you've heard, it's probably not true.

Tempe's Bandersnatch Brew Pub did close Monday. But it wasn't forced out by
eminent domain, it won't be torn down to make room for high-rise condos and it
won't become Martini Ranch's next hip nightclub.

It will still be called Bandersnatch. It will still serve the same microbrewed
beers. It will still be the same neighborhood pub. It will reopen Thursday.

There will be new owners, a few new touches and the brewery part will be taken
out of the Tempe pub and relocated to the West Valley. But that's it, promised
new owner Barrett Rinzler and old owner Joe Mocca.

"Whatever everybody's hearing is not accurate," Rinzler said. "We are leaving
Banders the way it is with new ownership and the same old tradition."

Four Arizona State University graduates opened Bandersnatch on Fifth Street east
of Mill Avenue in 1975. Mocca and his wife, Addie, bought it in 1987. They
replaced the patio with a brewery, and Bandersnatch became the state's first
brew pub.

The pub's clientele consists of City Hall staff from next door, employees from
the Police Department and courts across the street, along with ASU students and
alums.

"Everyone always tries to make it out to be the college bar, but it was way more
than that," Mocca said. "If the city prosecutor had a bad day, he was in here.
There was always an Irish accent somewhere in the bar, along with Germans,
Norwegians and people from everywhere."

He said for three months after they took over the pub, the regulars hated them
and then things settled down. He predicted the same will happen this time, but
rampant rumors aren't making for a good start. Dozens of furious e-mails were
sent to a bewildered Tempe City Council last week from as far away as
Albuquerque. They accused the city of threatening the owners with condemnation,
forcing the owners to shut down to make room for "a more lucrative business,"
and behaving in a "mafia-like" way.

No city plans, including drafts of the 2030 General Plan, showed Bandersnatch as
anything but the pub. Mayor Neil Giuliano and city staff said there have been no
plans to condemn or redevelop the Bandersnatch location.

Mocca made it clear that they weren't forced to sell. But he said eminent domain
has happened around Mill Avenue.

"It became a looming situation that we didn't want to face," Mocca said.
"Eminent domain is there, and we didn't want to own Bandersnatch when it got
scrapped."

The next batch of Bandersnatch regulars will grow up under the owners of
Scottsdale's Martini Ranch and Elixer. Rinzler said they would keep the
tradition alive, but update it.

"It was a landmark when we were in college, but I've always thought it could be
more than what it was," Rinzler said. "We want to cater more to the student
population."

They're putting TVs inside and on the patio, leveling out the patio, making the
outdoor bar more full service and removing the brewery to make room for a second
bar later.

Mocca and his wife will help their former brewmaster open a new Bandersnatch
Brew Pub and brewery near Arrowhead Towne Center in a few months. All of the
Tempe pub's beer will come from this new location. Mocca will maintain ownership
of the Bandersnatch name, but is lending it to the new Tempe owners.

Reach the reporter at alia.rau@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-7949.


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