Longtime Burbank karaoke bar will have its final encore on Friday

When you stand outside Sardo’s Grill & Lounge in Burbank at about 7 p.m., the hum of vehicles driving down the nearby Ventura (134) Freeway fills the air. However, step inside the establishment two hours later and you’ll immediately hear someone singing hits such as Neil Diamond’s “America.”

The unassuming 49-year-old restaurant and bar is tucked away in a strip mall next to a Bank of America and a Vons on Pass Avenue. Dozens of patrons flock to Sardo’s during the week to grab a drink or two and summon the courage to sing their favorite song.

Though there were people singing and cheering each other on Monday night, there was a somber undertone that evening because the owner of Sardo’s announced late last week he will be shutting down the establishment on Friday for financial reasons.

Seymour Satin, who has been working at Sardo’s for 14½ years, said the property owner raised his rent earlier this year to about $10,000 a month, which proved to be too much for him.

“It’s too high for this area, with no drive-through traffic and no walking traffic,” he said. “It’s a ridiculous rent, but the owners feel that they can get it.”

Satin, 59, of North Hollywood, said he has done everything he could to keep the bar afloat. He has tried promotional nights and refinanced his home to have enough money to pay the rent and his employees. However, it has come to the point where nothing is working.

He has even tried finding a new location for the business, but Satin said he could not find a site that meets the city’s requirements for a bar.

The last decade has not been particularly kind to Satin. Though his first six years of owning the bar were fruitful, business started going downhill around 2007. During that time, Caltrans started an onramp project at Hollywood Way, which resulted in street closures along Pass and drove many of Satin’s customers to other bars.

Satin said he barely recovered from the freeway construction, but it would not be the last thing to affect his business. In 2015, Sardo’s had to close for about three months after a fire destroyed the kitchen. The booths, liquor cabinets and bar stools were all damaged by smoke and had to be replaced.

Even after getting Sardo’s up and running again, Satin said business never really recovered.

It was never Satin’s goal to own the bar. As a former professional researcher, Satin said he was in between jobs and stumbled upon a managerial job at Sardo’s. After a few years, he had enough money to buy the restaurant and would soon fall in love with the establishment and the people who came in.

“I would have loved to keep this around until its 50th anniversary, which would have been in 2018, but I can’t do it,” Satin said.

Though he would have liked to leave Sardo’s on better terms, Satin said that he is looking forward to spending time with all the current and former regulars he has met during the years during the bar’s final week.

One of those regulars, Sunland resident Jim Sabo, has been paying visits to Sardo’s nearly every Friday for the last 12 years.

Sabo, 47, said that he never would have visited Sardo’s over a decade ago had it not be for a friend who frequented the bar before he did. He was hesitant to go at first because singing karaoke in public was not something he thought he would like.

“But we came over, and I wound up having a good time, and before I knew it, I was coming in here every Friday,” he said.

On Monday, Sabo belted out his rendition of “The Middle” by Jimmy Eat World and was cheered on by friends and strangers alike.

Later in the night, Burbank couple Janelle and David Polk each grabbed a microphone and sang “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” by Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty. The Polks met at Sardo’s nine years ago and married shortly after.

The Polks said they were shocked to hear that Satin would be closing Sardo’s doors on Friday. Though they met each other at Sardo’s, the couple said that they have not gone to the bar as much as they used to and now regret not spending more time there.

“I’ve met so many people here that feel like family, and I feel like we took it for granted a little because we live really close,” Janelle Polk said. “But the closing has brought a community of people that I’ve known for a long time back together.”

anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com

Twitter: @acocarpio