Little Bohemia Returns

Today's print column.

Little Bohemia reopens today.

I've been wondering since June 2008 when I'd finally type that sentence. That's when the raging Cedar River bellied up to the historic bar at 1317 Third St. SE, - actually several feet above the bar - filled it with muck and shut it down.

I've written about the old joint several times since, checking in on Little Bo's long, bumpy road to recovery. That's meant navigating the, uh, spirited relationship between Leon “Tunnie” Melsha, the building's owner, and his son, Jeff Melsha, who runs the bar. Still, I was cautiously optimistic that sparks generated through family friction would eventually power a comeback.

And at 3 p.m. this afternoon, Little Bo returns. A post-Christmas miracle, perhaps.

“The liquor's ready to go. The beer's cold. So there you go,” Jeff Melsha said. “There's a lot of people excited.”

Last week, Melsha gave a preview to friends, people who worked on the bar's rebirth and folks like me who missed the place. When I pulled up out front and saw the amber glow of the bar lights, I remembered parking in the same spot 30 months ago. Back then, the bar's soggy contents, televisions, antiques, etc., were in muddy piles outside.

A few steps inside reveals its remarkable transformation. The place looks great, while still retaining that lived-in feel that made it Little Bo.

While I was there, a steady stream of people checked in. Some brought hot dishes to share. One woman named Betty brought a big bottle of horseradish. She likes it in her bloody mary and wanted to make sure Jeff had some on hand. Everybody seemed to have a story about how they used to come here all the time, and missed it during its long absence. There's clearly a lot of affection for the place, and it even seemed to rub off on the bartender I once called a mixture of friendly/surly.

“Are you getting surly?” a woman joked to Jeff. “Nah. I'm too happy to be back,” he said.

Jeff quit his job at Nordstrom's distribution center in late October and spent the next two months pushing to get the place back up and running. He figured it was now or never for Little Bo.

Not everything is ready. The bar has televisions, but no cable yet. The kitchen won't be ready to start serving tenderloins and goulash for a while. Some familiar relics were lost to the flood, and Jeff's not replacing the pool table where he slept the night the water arrived.

Some of the old signs hanging high on the wall now have a faint line across them - marking where the Cedar flowed in 2008. Impressive, to be sure, but not enough to kill off Little Bohemia.

Comments: (319) 398-8452 or todd.dorman@sourcemedia.net