The Lizard Lounge nightclub and the Cambridge Common restaurant overhead will close in May with a sale of the building, owners Holly Heslop and Charlie Christopher told WBUR on Friday.
The couple is in talks with a buyer for the property at 1667 Massachusetts Ave., in the Baldwin neighborhood between Harvard and Porter squares, Heslop told WBUR’s Amelia Mason. The property is assessed at $3.6 million.
With that sale, their Cambridge Eats and Beats company will end, as Heslop and Christopher had previously sold its Porter Square businesses Christopher’s Restaurant & Bar – which shut down permanently at the start of the Covid pandemic – and the attached Toad nightclub. After a 2024 sale for $2.9 million, both reopened for regular business in 2025 under the ownership of Tommy McCarthy and Louise Costello, owners of The Burren in Somerville’s Davis Square. Christopher’s was rechristened as McCarthy’s.
Cambridge Common opened in 1996, and the Lizard Lounge in 1997. Christopher’s preceded it, opening in 1981, but only Cambridge Common stayed open throughout the Covid pandemic, when it offered open-air dining in its giant rear parking lot and more tables along its storefront. The 105-person-capacity Lizard Lounge reopened in September 2022.
In addition to its schedule of live music, including providing a home to signature bands such as Club D’Elf, the Lizard Lounge has been the longtime host of the Sunday night Poetry Slam & Jam, which includes a jazz band improvising music for a featured poet who follows the weekly spoken word competition.
The imminent loss of Cambridge Common chef Arcesio Suarez and the owners’ age and health contributed to the decision to sell, Heslop told WBUR.
