For longer than any Harvard student can remember, the Crimson Sports Grille has been the freshman class' worst-kept secret.

According to Harvard Student Agencies' Unofficial Guide to Life at Harvard, the JFK Street restaurant and bar is "a legendary spot in the Square that people love to hate. Its status as a freshman final club makes it a wonderful sanctuary from the often dull yard scene but it's not just your fake ID or the glasses at the Grille that are made of plastic. By junior year most students have moved on."

Given the tattered cloak of secrecy around this contemporary Square speakeasy, its legal survival over the eight years since it was purchased by Paul C. McCarthy ranks as one of the wonders of the contemporary Cambridge world. Its continued operation is even more remarkable in the context of current trends in area nightlife--after MIT first-year Scott Krueger died of an alcohol overdose in 1997, city authorities have cracked down on bars and clubs serving minors all over the Boston area.

But according to city licensing officials, the Grille, primarily by virtue of deft legal representation and restrictions on the Cambridge and Massachusetts agencies responsible for overseeing it, has managed to elude the clutches of the Cambridge License Commission and Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission (ABCC), despite a plethora of underage students found drinking there in stings conducted over the past decade.

Now, however, the bar--and the first-years who perennially frequent it on Thursday through Saturday nights--may be crashing back to earth. Two weeks ago, ABCC investigators who found six minors drinking at the Grille in a December sting recommended that the Commission refuse McCarthy the option of paying a fine in lieu of a license suspension, as he has done after each finding of underage drinking--at least five to the state and one to the city, according to the commissions' records.

And according to Cambridge License Commission Executive Director Richard V. Scali, the Cambridge commission plans to schedule a hearing on the bar's entire record in late April to early May that could result in a revocation of its alcohol license, after the ABCC makes it disposition.

The Grille's lawyer, James J. Rafferty, says the bar's days may be numbered.

"I'm starting to feel that there are a lot of forces lining up against Mr. McCarthy," he says. "This seems to be reaching a critical mass, and I'm not sure what the future holds...It's very obvious that if he's caught again, his chances of survival are nil. All eyes are on the Crimson Grille these days."

McCarthy insists that since the ABCC hearing, he has redoubled his efforts to prevent minors from entering the bar. He says he is considering installing a swipe machine to verify the authenticity of ID's within the next two weeks, such as the ones used at clubs on Lansdowne Street.

But if steps such as these will placate the authorities whom Rafferty says are "chomping at the bit" to close McCarthy's doors, they may not bode well for his business.

Although McCarthy says his receipts remain healthy--and should increase for the duration of the March college basketball tournament--student regulars at the Grille counter that attendance at the bar has dropped due to more scrupulous efforts by bouncers and fears that ABCC investigators may be lurking in the woodwork.

The four Harvard first-years caught in the most recent ABCC sting will probably not join whatever crowd chooses to watch the games on McCarthy's satellite TV system--they have been summoned to the Freshman Dean's Office and their cases will be brought before the Administrative Board next week.

Mo' Money, No Problems

McCarthy, a 56-year-old Greater Boston local with a career in the restaurant business, purchased the Grille in July 1993 for $250,000.

Within two months, state investigators cast doubt on his compliance with the Massachusetts drinking age statute. ABCC records reveal that on September 23, 1993, investigator Keith J. Keady found that the Grille performed a "cursory check at best of ID's when presented by the very young looking patrons."

Almost two months after that, the ABCC held a hearing on four counts of serving alcohol to minors and informed McCarthy his license would be suspended for 24 days.

But in March of 1994, the ABCC permitted the Grille to pay a fine of $4,225.67 in lieu of the suspension--a pattern that became typical of the interaction between the Grille and city and state authorities. Since then, McCarthy has routinely taken advantage of the provision in both city and state procedure permitting establishments found in violation of the law to pay fines in lieu of license suspensions, paying about $12,000 over six cases, most recently $1,470 in lieu of a six-day suspension in June of 2000.

"He looks at it as a cost of doing business," ABCC Chief Investigator Frederick G. Mahony said at the hearing last month.

By 1995, the battle lines between the bar and the government were clearly drawn. Middlesex Superior County Courthouse records include a transcribed voice mail message left by G. Pebble Gifford, president of the Harvard Square Defense Fund, on Richard Scali's voice mail.

"The bottom line," Gifford said, "is that we're really fed up with these people, that they can't get their act together and we definitely want more suspensions and even a revocation of the license...they don't seem to understand that you mean business and that we mean business and what will make them understand that. It's just inexcusable, isn't it?"

Roaches to the Four Corners

The Grille only paid these fines, however, when the authorities found them in violation. And according to officials with the Cambridge License Commission, getting the Grille on underage drinking is far more difficult than getting into the Grille underage. Rafferty said a large majority of charges that have been brought against the bar have been dismissed.

According to William C. Barnes, a Cambridge police officer assigned to work with the license commission, finding a violation requires investigators to catch an underage patron in the act of consuming liquor. In practice, this standard of proof is very high.

"We always miss one thing," Scali says. "The doorman or Mr. McCarthy will recognize who we may be. When they come in, everyone scatters. The bottles are gone, glasses are gone, you're just sitting there. These kids aren't stupid, they know they're doing something wrong."

Barnes participated in an Oct. 12 sting which found two underage Boston College students in the bar, but not in possession of alcohol.

"It was like turning the kitchen light on and the roaches scatter to the four corners," says Barnes. "People have rights, you can't just say 'hey, stop right there.' There's a very narrow area to work with. You're looking forward to the hearing. It's very difficult to walk that fine line. And I don't look the part, I'm in full uniform. It's kind of a blitzkrieg thing."

The case was brought to a hearing at the Cambridge License Commission on January 23.

Barnes and License Commission Chief Investigator Andrea Boyer testified that they had found two minors in the bar who could have been served alcohol illegally, as the bar only checks IDs at the door.

Rafferty responded that he was "mystified" as to why McCarthy had been brought before the ABCC, because the students had not been drinking and no violations were committed. He speculated the students were at the Grille because its "social environment promotes a camaraderie unavailable in dormitories" and that the students had not intended to drink.

Former police captain Henry Breen was skeptical.

"It's better than saying they went for the hot wings," he quipped.

But after the hearing recessed, the case was dismissed for lack of evidence.

Cops in the Cradle

The Cambridge Police Department (CPD) is also responsible for enforcing the drinking age, and they are not as tightly constrained as the ABCC.

However, McCarthy has consistently hired off-duty police details to work at the Grille on busy nights at tremendous cost--according to Cambridge License Commission records, he was in debt $12,000 to CPD for detail work before recently paying down the arrears.

But although the policemen are in their CPD uniforms, they are McCarthy's employees for the evening. They do what they are paid to do--keep the peace and, according to Rafferty, deter minors from attempting to enter by their presence. Rafferty says McCarthy does not expect them to double-check IDs, and student regulars say the officers never do.

"There are certain police officers who think that as an employee of that licensee, they shouldn't look at anything else," says Scali. "By law, it's not the police officer's responsibility to card...and details don't view carding as their job."

But there appears to be some miscommunication in the ranks. According to CPD Detective Frank Pasquarello, investigating underage drinking is within the detail's responsibilities.

"If an officer is hired by a specific place," Pasquarello says, "[and] if he observes someone underage, he can ask them for ID. If he sees someone who looks like they're 12, he can ask questions."

CPD Captain Richard Bongiorno, who oversees the details, confirmed that detail officers are not absolved of their law enforcement responsibilities while in the employ of a business.

"If there's any violation of the law, of course they'd be obliged to uphold it," he says. "They're Cambridge police officers."

According to Bongiorno, CPD policy prevented the detail officers from commenting to The Crimson.

Scali says that the presence of police details does not dissuade on-duty officers from visiting the Grille and that the details are not informed when a sting is planned. But the fact remains that most police officers paid by the establishment look the other way while doormen wink at scores of fakes.

The Grille Feels the Heat

McCarthy has avoided being shut down because the law requires a high burden of proof to find violations and because the minors who protect themselves during stings also protect the bar, according to Scali. The Grille's survival may also be due to the police details keeping the peace and providing the appearance of propriety so the bar does not draw undue attention.

Through the confluence of these factors, McCarthy does good business. According to 1999 records (the most recent in ABCC files), the Grille made $322,950 for a year's worth of alcohol sales that cost $143,713, a profit of 125 percent.

But over the past year, and culminating with the December sting by the ABCC, this cozy equilibrium--and the profits that accompanied it--have now run into serious jeopardy.

According to Rafferty, the Grille was not so exceptional five years ago. He says Harvard Square once featured an abundance of watering holes for undergraduates, including the Boathouse, the Spaghetti Club, the College Grille, and the Bow and Arrow Pub.

But with each of these establishments now closed, the Grille has stood out more and more.

"The Grille is one of the last college bars in town," Rafferty says. "People say, 'How could this be occurring in the middle of Harvard Square in a prominent location?' It's a bad place to be as a licensee to have the license commission view you as making them look bad."

In addition, he speculates, the attention now placed on the Grille is self-perpetuating.

"The problem for the Grille is that it has now acquired this reputation, deservedly or not, which makes it easy picking for investigators," he says. "If you're an ABCC investigator sent to find underage drinking, you're not going to spend time at Harvest or the Charles Hotel. So there's been a ratcheting-up at both agencies."

Rafferty points to the ABCC investigators' request that the commission not permit McCarthy to pay a fine as a sign that authorities are attempting to move in for the kill.

But until the most recent ABCC hearing, the camera-shy McCarthy had difficulty adopting to the government's spotlighting his business.

Both Scali and Rafferty, used to disagreeing on just about everything regarding the Grille, concur that McCarthy's record of serving minors was not a calculated business decision.

"He would not knowingly allow this to occur," Rafferty says, "because he's going to lose his license [if he continues to amass violations]. And the value of that business is tied to that license. The guy has got a business there. If he's knowingly turning a blind eye to the age issue, he's making a bad decision. It does defy explanation otherwise."

"I think it's partly ignorance," says Scali.

Rafferty says that McCarthy has not followed his suggestions on carding policies, one of which he proposed to the Cambridge License Commission in 1995.

"I tell him to put up big signs saying that if you look under 25, you need a Massachusetts license, but he says 'I'll go out of business' [because his clientele is primarily out-of-state]," Rafferty says.

Laying Down the Law

But McCarthy says he has turned over a new leaf since the ABCC hearing. He says he is requiring backup IDs for out-of-state patrons and is considering implementing a swipe machine to verify driver's licenses within the next two weeks, as well as hiring a second bouncer to double-check patrons. McCarthy also claims he is looking into collaborating with Harvard to validate University identification.

Many students say the Grille has been much stricter about carding, and has drawn fewer students because of fears of another raid. According to one first-year, the Grille's bartenders, many of whom declined to comment to The Crimson, are upset about declining attendance.

"The Grille has become much more challenging for the average patron," one first-year regular writes in an e-mail message. "While previously the 'pass-back' was an almost foolproof method for getting in a friend who did not have a positive ID, such activity is no longer even an option. It seems as though the bouncers have become much more scrupulous."

But even first-years who can get in are thinking twice about frequenting an establishment whose red-and-white electric sign serves as a bullseye for city and state investigators, especially now that four of the students caught in the ABCC sting will face the Administrative Board next week.

"Because I have heard that the Grille has become significantly more strict within the last couple of weeks," writes one female first-year, "I haven't even tried to go--not wanting my ID to get confiscated, or worse, get caught in another bust. Plus, it seems that most freshmen are feeling similarly, so there is less and less reason to go if no one will be there."

A Premature Epigraph?

But although the present picture appears grim, McCarthy insists that his business does not depend on an adolescent clientele.

According to Rafferty, the Grille attracts an older crowd during the day that has included construction workers, and that major sporting events lure fans of all ages to watch games.

"He's never complained to me about his business," Rafferty says. "The challenge for him is to combat that perception [publicized in the Unofficial Guide]. His future success will depend on that. Because there is a role for the Crimson, where 21-year-old students should be able to go."