AUBURN – In Jaime Gilbert’s mind. the Twin Cities need a place like The Cellar Door.

“There is nothing at all like this place, anywhere around here,” said Gilbert, 22, a Lewiston resident. He and his friends stopped by the Main Street nightclub about 11:30 Saturday night looking for something a little bit different.

“It’s a fun place to be,” he said. “There are other bars, but this is our place. It’s just a good place to be. If you take it away, I don’t know what we’ll end up doing.”

Gilbert and his friends could find out this week. Club owner Paul Morency said Saturday he is willing to sacrifice The Cellar Door to keep the liquor license for his upstairs Midnight Blues Club.

He’ll meet with the City Council tonight, and that’s what he’ll offer.

“I’m hoping that will be enough to keep the Blues Club open,” Morency said.

Councilors are scheduled to vote on issuing Morency a new liquor license and an entertainment permit at their 7 p.m. meeting.

At one time, Morency operated three nightclubs out of the building – The Cellar Door in the basement, Midnight Blues on the main floor and The Other Side in the rooms behind the Blues Club. He stopped operating the Other Side as a separate club last year and uses it now for banquets and wedding receptions.

Business began picking up The Cellar Door about a year and a half ago, according to bar manager April Tarmey. It was the same crowd that made Rock’n Robin’s a success two years ago – and ultimately cost that club it’s liquor license.

“It’s a younger, rowdier crowd than you find anywhere around here,” Tarmey said.

Police responded to 136 calls for service at the club in the past year. That included 18 assaults, 22 fights and 21 complaints of disorderly conduct. Those calls resulted in 32 arrests. By contrast, they responded to 11 calls at other Auburn nightclubs.

But Tarmey said it’s not a fair comparison.

“We’re not a restaurant or a sports bar like those other places,” she said. “There is nothing similar in the rest of the city.”

Tom Maynard, a bouncer at the club, admits the patrons can get rowdy, but said bouncers work closely with police to keep problems from getting out of hand. That explains the high number of calls – and also part of the club’s success.

“A big part of it is that women feel safe here,” he said. Bouncers are especially wary about drunken men behaving badly. They move quickly to protect the bar’s female patrons.

“So they know it’s a safe place to be, and they come back,” he said.

Heather McLaughlin, 26, of Lisbon agreed.

“I’ve never worried about it,” she said. “I feel totally safe.”

Beth LaFontaine of Greene said the crowd isn’t as rowdy as it seems.

“I laughed when I heard how it was being portrayed, like it was full of unsavory people,” she said. The club draws a mix of people.

“That person over there is an accountant,” she said, pointing to a group of friends. “That one is a pharmacist. I do social work. But we all come here because we like to dance, and there is no other place like this anywhere.”

Morency said he’s heard from many Cellar Door patrons.

“They wonder where they’ll go, and what they’ll do,” Morency said.

But he’s not worried about that now.

“The biggest thing for me is keeping the Blues Club open,” he said.

Morency said he won’t use the space for The Cellar Door, but is considering putting it up for lease.

“If someone else can make it operate, I’ll let them try,” he said.

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