Sonia, at the Old T. T. The Bear’s Place, Is Opening Soon in Cambridge
The cat is out of the bag! We can’t wait to see everyone here at Sonia pic.twitter.com/Mw9a3e1rL9
— Sonia (@soniamideast) February 22, 2017
Very soon, we may finally get to meet Sonia, the long-awaited venue slated to open where T. T. The Bear’s Place used to be in Cambridge’s Central Square.
The space at 10 Brookline Street, now owned by the Middle East, has been undergoing renovations for more than a year, and will soon re-emerge as a “multi-genre nightclub venue,” owners Joseph and Nabil Sater said in a statement released Wednesday on the Facebook page for the Clicky Clicky Music Blog:
Sonia is a brand-new, fully renovated, state-of-the art 320 capacity room to host live bands, DJ nights, community events, private functions, weddings and more. The room carries on the visual motif of the other rooms in the entertainment complex with arches complimenting the high ceilings and beautiful new stage. A full-sized artist-friendly green room will be available for headliners.
It will have an increased capacity of 320, an all-new sound system, new lights, a new box office, a decor that jibes with the Middle East’s other venues, and a stage that is 22 feet wide, 16 feet deep, and 39 inches high. No shows have been booked yet, and there doesn’t appear to be a website for the new venue. A Twitter account emerged this afternoon. “We can’t wait to see everyone,” the official account tweeted Wednesday.
Leedz Edutainment‘s Ned Wellbery will be Sonia’s manager. “Its official and we are open for business!!” Wellbery wrote on Facebook. “Its been a long road with lots of bumps and bruises but we stayed on course!! Much thanks to everyone who put their blood, sweat, and tears into this project. Blessed to be apart of it. #backtowork”
Whether they can attract the same loyal following that kept its predecessor in business for decades remains to be seen. The venue was a fixture in Cambridge, and a frequent Best of Boston awardee. That was before longtime owner Bonney Bouley decided to close the club after 40 years when she learned her rent would be shooting up 35 percent. When word got out, some of the biggest names to ever play the place—The Pixies, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones—returned to send it off.
