By Isabel Sami

The Jungle in Union Square closed for the winter this week as temperatures begin to drop. The music club and restaurant has been operating since June by serving guests on an outdoor patio set up in the parking lot, a change that many restaurants in Boston and Somerville have also made.

In May, after shutting down completely in March, the Jungle opened for takeout only with owner and manager Sam Epstein working alone in the kitchen. When Massachusetts began reopening restaurants with outdoor patios in early June, Epstein increased his staff by one, adding a bartender to help him serve guests at the six tables outside.

Not long after the opening of the patio, Epstein started inviting artists to come perform, but due to Somerville’s ban on concerts at venues with outdoor seating, artists have to perform inside the Jungle alone while their performance streams to a screen on the patio as well as to Facebook. Epstein says that while guests still seem to enjoy the music, the ban on outdoor music is unfair.

“The whole point of performing live is to be able to make money and connect with customers, and I don’t think that there’s going to be many – or any – customers very soon,” Epstein said. “It’s so cold outside. Our patio is rarely, rarely full. Any given night, if it’s cold and windy, there’ll just be no one out there. Other nights, maybe we’ll fill all six tables, but instead of having 85 people inside, we have just six tables outside on the patio, because we have to have social distance.”

Normally the process to get a license for a patio is tedious and time-consuming, but the city worked with restaurants to expedite the process over the summer. Restaurants that were previously takeout only could set up tables on streets and in parking lots, like the Painted Burro in Davis Square.

Despite this, the city still denied artists the right to perform outdoors, fearing it would attract “uncontrollable crowds,” according to Epstein, who spoke with city officials to no avail. After speaking with city staff and eventually having his question posed to Mayor Curtatone during a virtual town hall, Epstein still was unable to change the policy. Now with winter quickly approaching and nights getting too cold for patio seating, the prospect of outdoor concerts is slipping away as well.

Epstein began voicing his concerns regarding outdoor concerts to city officials in July, and his decision to close the Jungle comes after months of inaction by the city. Before closing for winter, the Jungle was giving 50 percent of food sales to artists and donating the other 50 percent to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting and advancing civil rights.

“There’s no profits,” Epstein said. “It’s basically like a failing nonprofit, because we’re not succeeding and breaking even. We’re operating as best as we can to let musicians play as much as they can while it’s possible for customers to kind of enjoy live music with the musicians.”

The Jungle’s website – https://www.thejunglemusicclub.com/ – features a link to a form by the National Independent Venue Association to “Save Our Stages”, which is an act that creates funds and grants for musicians and venues. Filling out the form sends a letter to local Congressional representatives encouraging them to pass the Save Our Stages Act, which would help venues like the Jungle stay open through the pandemic.