When Joe Peatman took over the brew pub at Second and Main streets in downtown Napa, there wasn't much going on. It was 1993, and things were sleepy.

"It was a real down time for downtown," said Peatman. "Commercial activity wasn't too strong, the mall was failing. There was maybe 50 percent occupancy downtown."

During the dinner hour, he said, "We'd watch nobody drive by and see nothing going on."

That is no longer the case, particularly with the thriving restaurant scene on Main Street. Downtown Joe's, with the river visible from its upstairs dining room, built up a good dinner business over the years.

While Joe's was an early anchor of the Main Street revival, Peatman said he is working to change the business. He and his wife, Nancye, are restoring its reputation as more of a restaurant, and less of a nightclub and drinking establishment.

In recent years, Peatman said, "We kind of let the public determine what we were going to be. Now we're going to take it back."

"We're a restaurant first, we've always been a restaurant first," said Nancye Peatman. "Somehow that's been lost over the years."

New policies

Joe Peatman -- the son of noted local attorney and Gasser Foundation leader Joe Peatman -- said the effort to make changes started more than a year ago, but some policy shifts backfired. Joe's added a cover charge for late-night visitors, hoping to weed out hangers-on and troublemakers. In fact, he said, it drew a crowd around the door that Peatman said created what looked like a rowdy scene to passers by.

Joe's music policy included a wide range of styles -- and volumes -- driving away would-be diners.

Then in January, a man was shot a short distance from Joe's, and that did nothing to help Peatman's cause. Ryan Geoghegan, 27, was injured after a still-unknown assailant shot him once near the public parking lot by Mervyns. Geoghegan had been in Joe's with a friend earlier that night.

Peatman gave police a videotape of the bar that evening. While it shows Geoghegan and his friend were at the bar, Peatman said, it didn't offer information about the crime -- the shooter may never have entered Joe's.

In order to distance Joe's from a reputation Peatman doesn't want, he said, he is making substantial changes.

He will no longer allow people who leave Joe's after midnight to return.

"Some people were hitting the parking lot and bringing their own alcohol" -- or perhaps something besides alcohol. When they came back, Peatman said, they were more likely to be out of control.

The kitchen is staying open as long as the bar stays open, which is 2 a.m. In the past, the kitchen has closed at 10 p.m. This shift makes it easier for anyone who has been drinking to slow down and get some food in their systems, while presenting a rare option for late-night dining in Napa.

Peatman, who spent years in the restaurant business before opening Joe's, has also changed the menu, scaling it back from 40 or so items -- "trying to be everything to everybody" -- to 20, allowing him to serve food more quickly and predictably.

While some Register readers have said the presence of rap music led to trouble, Peatman said he wants to present all kinds of music, just at volumes and during hours that will be most appealing. He's shifted open mic night, for example, and is experimenting with dinner shows from live bands on Wednesday nights. Deejays still hold sway on Tuesdays.

"It's not the type of music that is really the issue," said Peatman. "It is just the volume of it. We're ever-evolving on the music to get it to be the right mix."

He's also imposed a dress policy. No hats, no hoodies, "no saggers, baggers or draggers," the policy reads. No tank tops or sandals.

Napa Police Sgt. Jeff Troendly said such policies tend to have a positive effect wherever they are in place.

"People who dress nicer just act better," said Troendly. "They tend to be less involved" in fights and outlandish conduct.

Joe's cover charge is gone. "That eliminated a clog of people in front of the business," said Peatman. "The clients want to be comfortable coming in, they would like to just walk into a place."

There is more seating in the bar area, discouraging a packed crowd at the bar and encouraging people to eat.

Show them the door

Joe's woes are not uncommon in Napa. Night spots tend to attract young people, and the list of hot spots that have lost out after hosting to many fights or altercations is long.

Said Troendly, "Anywhere you have a large congregation of people indulging in alcohol, it alters moods and attitudes. That has obviously been a concern to us."

Troendly said the key to maintaining business and avoiding conflict is "monitoring the crowd, and recognizing when things are getting out of hand -- looking for those key signs when problems are beginning to surface between two patrons, boyfriends and girlfriends or whoever."

Troendly said everything from training employees to imposing a dress code helps with crowd control.

Brett McCulloch of Billco's Billiard Parlor understands the changes Peatman is making.

McCulloch and his parents, Jeri and Bill McCulloch, have run Billco's in downtown Napa since 1995, in what used to be the Salvation Army Thrift Store on Third Street.

McCulloch said fights and altercations are going to happen with a late night crowd.

The key, said McCulloch, is simple: "You have to get rid of your power drinkers. You have to get rid of the people who want to take over your business."

McCulloch points out Billco's has some crowd-control advantages Joe's doesn't -- the main difference being Billco's doesn't sell hard liquor, offering only beer and wine. Also, Billco's has only a handful of employees to train, while Joe's may have as many as 50 full- and part-time workers in the summer.

"We give a lot of leeway for employees to ask (problem guests) to leave, and to walk them out the door," said McCulloch.

As for fights, he said, "We all get them. You just try to handle it the best you can."

The changes at Joe's aren't meant to drive anyone out, said Nancye Peatman, who noted that she is 48. "It's not that we don't want the kids to be there. What we don't want is people our age thinking its not a place where they can go to eat."

"We want to be a casual place," said Joe Peatman. "Something for everybody."