WASHINGTON — It’s the first New Year’s Day in 33 years that football fans won’t be able to watch a bowl game at Summers in Arlington. The bar, known for its soccer-fan following, has closed.
John Sancho has been coming to Summers since he was a teenager. The best moment at this soccer bar, he says, was during the 2002 World Cup.
“The place closes at 2 a.m., and Joe kept it open for 24 hours,” Sancho says.
Regulars who lined the bar during its last happy hour on Dec. 31 all recounted that day in 2002 when so many people were packed in to watch matches that you could hardly move. They were even lining the sidewalks outside peering in.
“We wanted to carry on the soccer tradition,” says owner Joe Javidara.
After completing a renovation with new televisions and furniture, Javidara says he was hoping he could pass Summers on to an investor.
But without interest, the bar has to close Jan. 1.
Javidara says a fire at the neighboring USA Print and Copy in 2013 forced him to close a popular part of the bar that hosted regular groups such as Oregon Ducks fans and karaoke-night singers.
Those trivia hounds and football fans found other bars, and never returned to help Javidara make up the business he’d lost.
He says in the final days, dozens of former customers have called, sent him emails and come in for one last beer at Summers.
Follow @WTOP on Twitter and WTOP on Facebook.
