Juanita's Mexican Cafe and Bar, a longtime part of Little Rock's restaurant and live music scene, is up for sale -- again.
The asking price is $159,000, according to a listing in the Cooperative Arkansas Realtors MLS, or multiple listing service.
The building at 614 President Clinton Ave. remains in the hands of owner/landlord Dennis Long. The business is owned by Juanita's Live Music LLC, managed by Reed Lewallen. Only the eatery's name and restaurant equipment are being sold. The information was provided in a news release issued Thursday by the Davidson Law Firm. Lewallen would not comment beyond what was in that release.
"The owners have families now, and the restaurant portion of the business takes a lot of time and expertise," the release said. "New restaurant management will allow the owners to focus on the live music concerts and other business interests."
Juanita's was established in 1986 at 1300 Main St., now the home of the restaurant South on Main. Juanita's moved to the River Market District five years ago, and in 2012, it was listed for sale on Craigslist for $250,000. It is unclear whether the business sold. It's currently listed by Nathan Hutchins of ArkBest Realty Inc.
Hutchins' listing information puts the entire space -- the restaurant and music venue -- at 8,000 square feet. The brick, frame and block structure was built in 1950. The location was Bill Street Bar and Grill before it was Juanita's. Long has upgraded the building and helps promote the business, the release said.
Mark Abernathy, owner of the Loca Luna and Red Door eateries on Old Cantrell Road and one of the original owners of Juanita's on Main Street, said the property has been for sale off and on for years.
"When I bought the building, it was a burned-out shell, and Main Street was overrun with winos and hookers," Abernathy said Thursday. The place had a dirt floor, and he stepped on a .38-caliber shell casing the first time he crossed its threshold.
Abernathy was able to look past the building's indoor campfires built by transients and out to Interstate 630, which opened nearly three months later.
"I knew from working in Texas 14-15 years that it would change everything -- and it did," he said of I-630. His friends told him he was out of his mind and would lose everything he owned.
Over the next 10 years, he was a partner. Juanita's was one of the first restaurants in the state to serve white cheese dip and to make fajitas with homemade flour tortillas. In its first two years in business, there was an hour-long wait for a table, he said.
In its heyday, Juanita's showcased arguably some of the most vibrant live music in the South, perhaps the country, he said. In those days, before the advent of the Internet, record labels pushed their bands to tour to promote albums.
"We were on the way to everywhere," Abernathy said.
Though the venue was smallish, it was a suitable layover for acts headed to and from Dallas, Nashville, St. Louis, Memphis and Oklahoma City, among other cities.
"During the week, we would get these great bands on their way to big markets," he added. Acts from a wide range of genres included New Grass Revival, Joan Baez, reggae greats Ziggy Marley and Peter Tosh, Hot Tuna, Leon Russell, Dr. John, Alison Krauss and Union Station, and Quiet Riot, to name a few.
One of the "big-hair bands" of the 1980s trashed the venue's bathroom, recalled Abernathy.
"Those were wild times," he said. International bands performed there, as well.
"They'd show up in two buses with 30 people and play our little room," Abernathy said. "It was magical stuff."
Juanita's in its current incarnation has 18 concerts or other events scheduled through the end of this month and into August.
Business on 07/10/2015