Bars fight to regain licenses – The Collegian
Three State College bars, including my former favorite Tony’s Big Easy, might be losing their liquor licenses.

The future of Tony’s Big Easy and two accompanying bars is uncertain after the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) declined to renew their parent company’s liquor license last week.

After multiple incidents and violations on the premises — including a murder in 2006 and a February fight which saw four arrests and a crowd of 200 surge into the street — the board voted against renewing the license for Sammark Inc., owner of Tony’s Big Easy, Lulu’s Nightspot and Candy Bar & Lounge, all located at 129 1/2 S. Pugh St.

The Big Easy, circa 1998-99 was one of my favorite bars ever. It had good background music — jazz, salsa, swing, big band, and great martinis. That Penn State’s sweet young things thought the bar was worthy of little black dresses also had something going for it too. However, in the years after I graduated, the bar went downhill. The music was changed the same thing in every other bar in town and the service went downhill. After a lackluster evening their the night before I got married, I decided I would not bother going back, it was merely a shell of the bar it used to be.

Three Pugh St. bars face dry times – CDT

Tony’s Big Easy, State College, Penn State, liquor control board