Each night on The Hill, a neon-blue moon rises.
Located on a street just four blocks long, Pop’s Blue Moon has a history that runs much longer. It has only been around since 1999, but the Pop’s label has been there since the early 90s, and the building itself, longer still. Constructed in 1908 from wood left over from the 1904 World’s Fair, Pop’s Blue Moon and its neighborhood have many stories.
“My head is filled with all kinds of stories,” said Joshua Grigiatis, who runs the bar and live music venue with his father, Terry. “I have stories from the mobster days from a neighbor who had lived next door for 82 years.”
The venue has live music almost every night. Tuesdays is open-mic-night. Local and national acts perform from an array of genres
“Everything minus heavy metal and top 40 [is here],” Grigiatis said. “We take pride in the quality of music we have here.”
Pop’s Blue Moon goes way back, first as a bar only 15 to 20 feet deep, serving customers through the Prohibition era. In the ’40s, the place was expanded, adding in a kitchen area and bathrooms. In the ’70s, the neighborhood saw the arrival of Interstate Highway 44, just four blocks up the hill.
“People talk about remembering [coming] to get ice cream from here,” Grigiatis said. “But that must have been 50 years ago because the ones who say that are, like, 65.”
‘Blue Moon’ went through four generations of ownership under the Gianella family, though not always under the Pop’s Blue Moon name, before it was sold to Grigiatis and his family.
“In the early ’90s it was called Papa Prost Tavern, then Pop’s on the Hill,” Grigiatis said. “We wanted to keep the tradition, but still show that this was something new.”
Pop’s Blue Moon is considered more of an off-the-path place, but did recently have Mike Gordon, bass player from the band Phish, play with a number of local musicians.
“This place is so small that we often don’t hear about who’s been here till the next day,” Grigiatis said. “People come here to get away from things. It’s not mainstream.”
For more information about Pop’s Blue Moon and its upcoming schedule of performers, visit its official website at www.popsbluemoon.com.
The club is located at 5249 Pattison Ave.
