The Garage on Beck, the iconic north side bar and music venue, announced this week that its building is set to be demolished and next month will be its last.
“The building will be knocked down,” the owners said in a social media post announcing the closure on Thursday.
Garage on Beck owner Bob McCarthy bought what was a dive bar surrounded by North Salt Lake oil refineries in 2008 and transformed it into a venue as revered by a diverse mix of locals for its nationally acclaimed music acts as its outdoor patio and funeral potatoes.
The bar suffered a setback in October 2023, as flames engulfed much of the building. But it bounced back and appeared poised to live on, the interior completely retrofitted and machinery replaced, before McCarthy’s announcement that it would close.
The bar sat for decades as an apparent holdout to the looming oil refineries that surrounded it, a setting befit for the counter cultural icon.
Surrounded on three sides by property owned by the oil giant Tesoro, the building was finally swallowed whole. Axiom Properties sold the property to Tesoro Refining and Marketing Company in January.
McCarthy opened Stoneground Italian Kitchen in 2000. In early 2023, he bought the iconic downtown dive bar Junior’s Tavern and gently put his touch on it, turning it into Bobby Juniors.
He said he would focus his attention on those two ventures after closing the Garage on Beck on May 31, but promised to go out with a bang and not a fizzle.
“Tons of music and big celebrations coming in the month of May,” McCarthy wrote. “Come support my wonderful staff and fill their pockets with cash before they move on to their next chapter.”
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