The Iconic Hamilton rock club This Ain’t Hollywood has been sold following an 11-year run of bringing live entertainment to James Street North. The current owners of the 127-year-old property at 345 James St. N. are Molinaro, Glen and Jodie Faulman, and Doug Malcolm. The club was named after the title of a 1982 song by Hamilton punk band The Forgotten Rebels.

Co-owner Lou Molinaro said the purchase offer, from a group called Amaprop Canada Inc., came as a surprise because the club has been closed since March 16 (the club’s weekly bingo night) due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The deal is set to close in August.

“It happened so fast, it’s kind of surreal,” said Molinaro, who announced the sale Sunday evening. “It was a generous offer considering we’re in the middle of this COVID-19 crisis.”

A collective “oh no” was voiced by the many patrons of the Establishment over the years. (Posted on Face Book) “Took a while to collect my thoughts on what I really wanted to say now that it’s official that This Ain’t Hollywood is closing. When a strong, constant pillar of our tight, but arguably small music scene falls down, it’s hard to process it all through the rubble. So I spent a few days looking through my photo archives looking for T.A.H shots for inspiration.

What were my favourite shows there? Too many to count!
Favourite times I’ve played there? With Cowlick, High Kites, The Dill, some one-offs.

Moments & things I’ll never forget? Every music show, every art show, the little touches and photographs that are collected and displayed throughout. So many memories!
Sometimes it felt like I only knew a few folks when I went there. But other times I knew EVERYONE! I’ll NEVER forget any of that.

Thank you to Lou Molinaro and Glen and Jodie and the wonderful rock and roll staff.  It was a club house. A home away from home for SOOO many people.

Huge loss for our “music city”, but it sure was fun while it lasted. Especially relevant now when I think about how we used to be allowed to be shoulder to shoulder, laughing and dancing and crowd surfing and rocking and experiencing music TOGETHER!!! Priceless.

I know there’s a lot of other GREAT venues in town that will pick up the slack and do a great job doing so whenever this ends. I also know that all good things must pass, and that venues change and our amazing music scene needs to shed its skin once in a while to shake things up, and that this is not the end of the world….but I’ll grieve it just the same.

This Ain’t Hollywood, & all the bands, if you’re listening, thanks so much for all of these memories and much more!”

I spoke with Katherine Stokes who worked at This Ain’t Hollwood since 1995. It’s a big adjustment but she has so many memories from her years there. She’d like to thank Glen, Jodie, Lou and Doug – the best people to work for. And a special thanks to the many customers who have become friends over the years and are forever in her heart.

Please check the article by Ken Hirter that was featured in the April edition of The North End Breezes on our website www.northendbreezes.com