A sheet of paper taped to the sign outside 10th Street Station invited customers to come in Sunday and “toast to freedom of choice.”
The Downtown Boise bar, normally closed Sundays, held a Great Final Smoke-Out to mark the last day smoking was legal in the city’s bars, parks and many other public areas. The bar’s business sign, which proudly proclaims “Smoking Allowed,” is suddenly outdated.
At 10th Street and other Boise bars, smokers and others bemoaned the local laws that would take effect at the stroke of midnight.
“It stinks,” said Boyce Williamson, a 91-year-old Quinn’s customer who favors cigars. “They’re taking our freedom.”
Quinn’s owner Gary Sullivan, one of the most avid opponents of Boise’s new ordinances, contends they violate the constitutional rights of business owners and individuals.
He anticipates various retaliatory responses, including a possible lawsuit and perhaps an attempt to recall Boise’s mayor and council members. He said he’s also heard that a group of defiant smokers may light up to invite arrest and challenge the ordinances in court.
Sullivan quit smoking years ago, because the habit got too expensive. He already offered plenty of nonsmoking space in the family-dining side of Quinn’s before Monday. But the idea of retiring the ashtrays on the lounge side rankles him.
“It’s my bar,” he said. “I should be able to make the rules.”
Customers at 10th Street Station echoed the sentiment.
“It takes the power out of the business owner’s hands,” Brian Johnson said. It seems unfair to forbid smoking in bars that don’t double as restaurants and already ban minors, he said.
“There are a lot of bars Downtown that have recently gone over to nonsmoking,” said Phil Howard. “Why not allow the few that allow it to keep going?”
Bartender Dan Krejci doesn’t smoke but knew 10th Street was a smoky kind of place when he applied to work there. When Krejci worked at a Boise restaurant, he opted to work in the smoking section whenever possible, he said, because smokers tip better.
Howard said, “For the past decade, the bar’s the only place I go to smoke.” He and Johnson said they won’t abandon 10th Street Station just because they can’t light up, but Johnson suggested the duration of many smokers’ bar visits will be shortened considerably.
“I think more people will come in, have one or two beers and then leave,” he said.
Krejci said friends who tend bar in Portland, which has long had a smoking ban, suggest it will take three to six months before Boise bars can gauge the impact on their business.
Some customers will find new bars to frequent in Valley cities that still allow smoking, Krejci said, noting “that would be an ideal thing, to be a bar owner in Garden City right now.” But other customers who don’t like smoky spaces will likely filter in after the ban, he said.
On weekend nights, bartender and patrons agreed, the air at 10th Street Station has discouraged some people from lingering.
So does that mean the new ordinances will make some aspects of bar life better?
“It never feels better when you get a right taken away,” Howard said.
Kristin Rodine: 377-6447
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