Post-Prohibition, the bakery transformed into the J&J Grill which operated for nearly 50 years before Allen’s purchase and subsequent renovation of the space. The bar never closed during renovations as patrons simply avoided areas being worked on. Updates at that time included the pressed-tin ceiling still visible above the bar area, one of the bar’s more eye-catching features. Allen sadly passed away in 2018, the bar now owned and operated by his wife Sandy and sons Quinn & Mitch. In true Dick Allen fashion, the tradition of owning multiple Columbus staples lives on, The Library Bar purchased in 2020 by Quinn Allen.
More recently, what was once an event space in the basement of Zeno’s is now Dick’s Dive, an homage from son Quinn to father Dick and his dive bar ownership legacy. The two businesses operate separately, though food from Zeno’s can be purchased within Dick’s Dive. The basement bar is new but constructed to feel old, the decorations sourced from decades of Allen family bar ownership and the beer selection heavy on old-school domestics.
Upstairs, green paint and half-wall wood paneling combine to create a classic corner dive bar atmosphere. The space is deceptively large, the long room split into two levels, a short step up leading to a long raised platform filled with tables and bench seating. A handful of built-in wooden benches can be found in the rear of the space, more low tables and chairs filling in the lower level. Some accounts suggest that Zeno’s may be home to the longest bar in the city and the counter is a long one, stretching the full length of what is a long footprint. Decorations are classic but not dense, mirrored beer signs mixing with framed shirts of Zeno’s days one by. A handful of trophies can be seen perched against the back wall.
