Central Square could be within a few weeks of knowing the address of Altar, its next nightclub.
On the other hand, founder John Keamy doesn’t want to get ahead of himself. In the past two years of searching for the right place, the team looked at as many as eight spaces in Boston. “In Cambridge, we’ve looked at probably 12 or 15,” Keamy said.
As of Sunday, “things are definitely moving in the right direction” at a space Keamy cannot yet identify after a month of pinning down details around such things as egress and access for people with disabilities. A lease signing could happen by the end of May, and Altar could soon join the neighborhood’s other nine or so clubs.
“We’re ready to go,” Keamy said. No doubt – after signing a lease a few months ago at a spot that fell through due to electrical issues, the Altar team bought a “world-class sound system” in anticipation for move-in. “Now we have a six-figure sound system just sitting there. We want to get our investment recouped,” he said.
Keamy grew up around Central Square, attending St. Mary Orthodox and going to shows at the All Asia, T.T. the Bear’s Place and The Middle East. During the years he’s worked as a restaurant manager, he began organizing parties and booking shows, drawing crowds to weekly and sometimes twice-weekly events. “We have a great, organic following. I was thinking the only thing that’s missing here is an actual, viable nightclub,” he said.
Three years ago he started looking at venues; two years ago the focus narrowed to Cambridge. “We figured, let’s just put all of our effort into this area, which is already so creative and so full of life,” he said. “Central Square isn’t huge, but we’re very committed to it.” (Also, opening a small business in Boston proper is “a nightmare, especially if you need a liquor license,” Keamy said.)
Third-shift economy
Altar’s minimalist layout is designed for 300 people who are more interested in dancing than in “paying $2,000 for a table so you can be a little bit closer to the DJ,” Keamy said. “We have an amazing light show, but we want the emphasis to be on the music” – a reflection of the experience of Keamy and his friends who wish the Boston club experience was more like what can be found in Miami, New York, Detroit, Chicago, L.A., San Francisco and Europe: a bit like a rave, where people can give themselves over to the groove, but complying with law to contribute to the development of artists and to the economy.
Young Bostonians treat clubs more like concerts, going to Royale or the Bijou at midnight and staying for two hours, Keamy said. “For people who do clubbing, there’s a very specific sort of situation that we want when we go out, and Boston doesn’t really offer that,” he said. He and his friends found themselves road tripping to New York monthly to get the all-night experience they wanted.
For all the youth Greater Boston has as a hub for college students and postgrads, the region lacks the third-shift sensibility of those other cities, “a late-night push” for fun that Keamy estimates could bring $100 million or more annually for eight hours of employment, sales and taxation. Forty-year-old regulations hold that back.
“We want to be the poster child for 4 a.m. in Boston,” Keamy said. “There’s definitely political aspirations to kind of revamp the city’s view on nightlife.” Not to mention that if a club is open until 4 a.m. but alcohol service stops at 2 a.m., people get two extra hours to sober up before going home.
Jose Zamora of the Infra music and art collective has booked shows in Cambridge and Boston for a decade with no violence or complaints, Keamy noted. But Subcentral, the Central Square DJ school and club that Zamora helped open in 2021, was denied a chance to prove the case. Five years ago, Subcentral went to the License Commission for permission to have weekend DJs, dancing and light shows from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. deep belowground at 645 Massachusetts Ave. The commission granted events only until 2 a.m.
Central Square state of mind
Keamy’s quest echoes that of Don Holland, who ran ManRay on Brookline Street between 1983 and 2005 and spent more than 17 years afterward trying place after place in the neighborhood to reopen in. Though Holland’s health failed shortly after ManRay’s reopening, the club has its new life at 40 Prospect St. (In a less satisfying story, while closing All Asia in 2013 to make way for what is now a Takeda office and labs building, owner Marc Shulman struggled to fund and open a club called Prospect across the street from the current ManRay address. Prospect never happened.)
One of the nightclub’s biggest allies has been Michael Monestime, president of the Central Square Business Improvement District, who has knocked down doors to get the Altar idea taken seriously, Keamy said.
Monestime had his own compliments for Keamy and his team. “These operators are kicking. They’re not folding. They’re getting creative,” Monestime said. “Nightclubs already have an uphill battle, but these kids are smart and they’re backed by really smart people. The way they’re approaching this is super sophisticated.”
Keamy just doesn’t want to miss the moment.
“The iron is so hot right now – not just in Cambridge and Central Square, with what Michael is doing, but in what the techno and electronic music scene is doing. It’s a phenomenal time as far as artists and engagement, and what young people are doing in releasing their own music and holding these little minitours,” Keamy said.
Still, Keamy knows Altar can’t be rushed. “The biggest lesson over the past three years is patience,” Keamy said. “I’ve had a lot of small victories, whether it’s fundraising or getting that signed lease. It’s these little victories that remind you that, like, oh yeah, this is possible. Right now, the name of the game is perseverance.”
This post was updated May 7, 2026, to correct the spelling of John Keamy.
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