In Carmel-by-the-Sea, the Bar Belongs to the Building

"Everyone who thought Sade's is gone, it's not gone," Bashar Sneeh told Edible Monterey Bay in late September. "The name changed, but the place is still there, the feeling is still there."

Plenty of longtime Sade's regulars disagree with him. On the narrow question of geography, though, Sneeh is right, and the reason goes back to a decision made in the 1990s. That decade, city officials decided the village could only tolerate so many drinking establishments, meaning businesses whose primary purpose is serving alcohol. They set the number at three. The permits for those three run with the property, not the business owner.

That rule explains 2026 in Carmel nightlife. In one year a 100-year-old bar lost its lease, a second bar fought its landlord, and the Planning Commission voted to strip the third of its permit. By October, all three addresses were still pouring. Operators can change, and so can drink prices and wall color. The map stays put.

Three permits, three addresses

The locations chosen for the permits have changed very little since the cap began. They housed Barmel, Sade's Cocktails and A.W. Shucks, which was formerly Maxwell McFly's. Here is where each one stands this fall.

Each row tests the same rule from a different direction.

Sade's: the owner left, the permit stayed

Sade Carr founded Sade's in 1926, so it was the village's oldest dive bar. SFGATE described the Lincoln Street room as no larger than a studio apartment, with stools around a U-shaped bar and a "cash only" sign among the bottles. Parker Logan started bartending there in 2010 as a favor to then-owner Frank Grupe. He bought the bar when Grupe retired in 2018.

Logan's lease ran out on Jan. 31, 2026, after landlords Maria Martinez and Lizete Fiallo decided not to renew it. Under Carmel's system, his departure split two things that had looked like one. Logan still held his personal liquor license. The city's drinking-establishment permit belonged to the location. In January, Logan said he had applied for a city permit if one ever became available.

Sneeh entered the picture after the closure was confirmed. The landlords knew him from his long run at Dametra Cafe, which sits two doors down in another building they own, and offered him first right of refusal. His stated plan was to keep the space liquor-only, open late, with the horseshoe bar that has been there since Sade's first moved in. There's a small loop in the history here. Sade's once operated in the space where Sneeh's Porta Bella now runs, before it moved to Lincoln.

The new room reverses most of the old house rules. Edible's Sept. 28 visit found that BashBar takes credit cards, allows drinks with more than three ingredients, and has paintings of vintage race cars on the walls. The menu lists five signature cocktails, such as a bourbon sour, an espresso martini and a Bulleit-and-beer Boilermaker, at $14 to $18. Wines by the glass are $12 and beers run $8 to $10. Three drinks came to $60 with tip on that visit. The words "the community well" are now painted on the front glass, and most of the seats were filled on a September Monday.

Sneeh has said he understands the attachment. "I definitely understand how it's an anchor in Carmel-by-the-Sea, and totally understand the feeling behind it," he told Edible. "I took all of this into consideration."

A.W. Shucks: the permit nearly left, the owners stayed

If Sade's showed that an owner can leave while the permit stays, A.W. Shucks raised the opposite question. Can a permit lapse while the same owners keep operating?

At a Planning Commission hearing, co-owner Karen Basi said food outsells alcohol at A.W. Shucks by roughly 5 to 1. On Feb. 11, after the fourth discussion of the issue, commissioners voted 4–1 that the landlords had abandoned the drinking-establishment permit. Commissioner Erin Allen dissented. The resolution gave the business six months to scale back restaurant service or surrender the permit. Commissioner Stephanie Locke, a longtime regular, put it plainly. "It changed from a smelly cigarette-filled bar to a great restaurant over the years. But it's not a drinking establishment. It's not a bar."

The ruling would have freed one of the three permits for the first time in decades. John Plastini, representing landlord TSD Carmel Properties, told commissioners the permit is worth about $250,000 and that the tenant bought the business in 2023 for "a significant amount of money."

The business and the landlord both appealed, and on April 7 the City Council granted the appeals 5–0. Resolution 2026-023 kept the drinking-establishment permit at the property. It also allowed a full-line restaurant as an ancillary use greater than 10% of the primary bar use, and refunded both appeal fees. Councilmembers pointed to city actions in 1993, 2015 and 2023 that had already accepted the business's changes.

"You bought a bar, I'm not going to be the guy that says no you didn't." Councilmember Bob Delves, as reported by Monterey County NOW

So the permit stayed where it was, and no fourth slot or open slot appeared. There is no public record of any approval for Logan to reopen elsewhere.

Barmel: still on the calendar

Barmel was the other half of SFGATE's August 2025 headline about Carmel losing both of its dive bars. Georis was contesting a landlord's termination notice in court at the time. Local reporting hasn't said how that dispute ended. Barmel's own events calendar lists Karaoke & Open Mic with Zack Freitas on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, from 8 to 11 p.m., mapped to Seventh Avenue. That listing is the clearest current sign that the third permitted address is operating as usual.

Outside the cap, nightspots change shape

The cap covers businesses whose main purpose is alcohol. It doesn't cover restaurants that also pour, and that's where 2026's other downtown handoffs happened. Without a permit to hold the use in place, spaces have changed what they are.

1. Edwin's to Banju. Edwin's, the former nightspot at Sixth and San Carlos, closed in June. Ashley Wolff of Jeju Kitchen in Carmel Plaza has the key and plans Banju there, a brunch spot that she says will be about 80% California cuisine and 20% Korean-Hawaiian. It will carry a beer and wine license and open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at first, with evenings left open for guest chefs and pop-ups. In August, Wolff said she hoped to open sometime in November.
2. Cantinetta Luca to Char. Sneeh's second 2026 project took over the former Cantinetta Luca space on Dolores between Ocean and Seventh. Char Steakhouse opened there on July 30.
3. Forge in the Forest to The Corner Market. Aubergine executive chef Justin Cogley is planning a more casual restaurant focused on seafood and seasonal produce at 511 Junipero Avenue. KSBW reported a 2027 opening in August, while the restaurant's site still says "Coming 2026."

Edwin's is the useful comparison. It was a nightspot without one of the three permits, and the next tenant is building a daytime room. The Lincoln Street space had a permit, and the next tenant built another late-night bar.

Whether three stays three

Councilmember Hans Buder raised the possibility of a future discussion on how many drinking establishments the city should allow. He noted how thin the code's distinction between bars and restaurants is. The Planning Commission, for its part, had said the city should hold at three rather than add a fourth. Until that discussion happens, a late drink in Carmel-by-the-Sea means one of three addresses: BashBar on Lincoln, A.W. Shucks, or Barmel.

Alex Brant grew up in Carmel and follows which downtown permits stay put and which spaces change hands. If you own property downtown and want to know what your building's existing permits mean for its next chapter, Let's Connect.