http://www.nj.com/entertainment/music/i ... nstit.html

Maxwell's, a Hoboken rock institution, to close at the end of July

Maxwell's, the Hoboken corner restaurant and rock club with an international reputation, is closing its doors at the end of July.

The lease to Maxwell's, which has been at the heart of the rock scene in Hudson County for decades, is up at the end of July. But the decision to close the club at 1039 Washington St. isn't the landlord's.

"We were offered a renewal with rates that weren't necessarily onerous," says Todd Abramson, the club's booking agent and co-owner. "But after much thought, given the changing nature of Hoboken and the difficulties of trying to run a business in this town, we decided it was time."

Maxwell's, says Abramson, will invite back some old friends to finish its remarkable run.

"On July 31, I think we're going to go out the way we came in -- with the band 'a'." a, which featured members of the Bongos and Glenn Morrow, who'd later found Hoboken's Bar/None Records, was the first act to ever take the stage in the restaurant's back room.

That was a very different era in the Mile Square city. Rents were relatively affordable, and the boom in condominium development hadn't yet seized Hudson County by the collar. Hoboken became an arts town, and a rock scene would soon thrive there.

As the years went by, there'd be other places in town to play. But Maxwell's was always Hoboken's flagship venue.

In recent years, parking at the north end of Hoboken has become increasingly tough, which has posed a challenge to touring bands -- and their fans.

"Parking has always been difficult in this town," says Abramson, who started booking at the club in 1986, and became a co-owner along with Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth and Dave Post of Swingadelic. "But now, for all intents and purposes, it's been outlawed. I've had bands whose vans have been booted because the signs are so unclear."

But the lack of parking alone didn't sink Maxwell's. As Hoboken has changed, the club and restaurant has lost much of its initial clientele.

"The culture in Hoboken is driven by reality TV now. A lot of the bars downtown are fighting with each other for who has the most giant TVs. That's what Hoboken nightlife has become."

Abramson, who lives in Hoboken, will continue to book the Bell House, a larger venue in Gowanus.

"A change of scenery isn't going to be bad for me," says Abramson. "It's been a long time."

Will J&R look like that one day!