Business Spotlight: Lenny's Pub

A new chapter has dawned at Lenny’s Pub in Westbrook under new ownership where everyone is welcomed for a great meal, to listen to live music and to connect with friends old and new.

Lenny's Pub in Westbrook has new owners and offer quality
affordable meals and live music at a comfortable location
steeped in Maine music history. From left are co-owners
Jill Murphy, Susan Erickson and Adam Steinman.
SUBMITTED PHOTO     

Located at 1274 Bridgton Road in Westbrook’s Al Hawkes Plaza, Lenny’s is steeped in history and offers an authentic and comfortable place where you can enjoy an affordable home-cooked meal and have some fun.

Co-owner Jill Murphy says the goal is to serve good food at a fair price while providing musical entertainment worth hearing.

“Our food is made by chef/owner Susan Ericson and her team with love,” Piker said. “Lenny’s Pub is a place to connect, to belong. And the music unites us all.”

New owners Adam Steinman, Erickson and Murphy took over in March 2026 from former owner Bill Umbel and say they are trying to keep the spirit of Al Hawkes Plaza alive. They say it is important for Lenny’s to provide a diverse sound selection that manages to hold a good melody and to the heart of the soul. Local artists such as Travis James Humphries, who creates a bluesy folksy honky tonk sound, to Rose Alley, who plays more electrifying jams in line with The Jerry Garcia Band, are regular music performers at Lenny’s Pub.

Lenny’s itself a little-known piece of musical history in Maine. Originally it was the home of Event Records, a small independent bluegrass and country music label created by early bluegrass artist Al Hawkes in 1956. He was a pioneer of his time who found his footing in music as a boy, learning to play guitar in his teens and went on to build a pirate radio station and then a recording studio in the building of what is now Lenny’s Pub.

Al Hawkes was part of the first interracial musical duo, Allerton & Alton, in a time when segregation was still thick and prominent in America. He pushed boundaries socially and musically, bringing in guitar, mandolin and banjo with a free-flowing hillbilly style. Event Records recorded some of the early bluegrass duo’s that are responsible for the harmony still heard in bluegrass today. Eventually Event Records came to an end in the 1960s and a portion of the recording studio became Al Hawkes Repair Plaza where Al and his wife repaired televisions until 1989. Al never stopped playing music and recording with his friends and the community around him.

Lenny Breau was just one of the many artists that Al Hawkes recorded. Lenny was a “boy wonder” and a musical genius that was ahead of his time. He grew up touring and performing with his parents Hal Lone Pine and Betty Cody. They were the top country and western musicians of Maine who went on to enshrinement in the Maine Hall of Fame. Lenny basically grew up on stage with his parents as Lone Pine Jr. or working as a studio musician at Al Hawkes Event Records. He discovered Chet Atkins finger picking and Bill Evans Jazz in his youth and somehow managed to synthesize his own unique style. His music is said to have influences in country, jazz, classical, flamenco, and bluegrass. It's said that he was too classical for the pop music of his time and too radical for the jazz musicians. Lenny liked to use a 12-string guitar, and he got into technical and complex string work. He played at venues across the country and taught music at a school in California until he was found dead in 1984.

Through the years a few other businesses have been located at the Lenny’s site, but one thing has remained constant and that is the historical 20-foot-tall Hawkes repairman swinging his toolbox sign at Al Hawkes Plaza. 

Under its new owners, Lenny’s is a place to get away from your daily routine to find community, eat great affordable food made with love and gluten-free options, and listen to live and vinyl music while out among friends. 

“We treat our patrons like family,” Murphy said. “We believe that no matter who you are, everyone needs a place where you are welcomed and can be yourself. We only charge a cover on Fridays and Saturdays or for larger acts in order to make a night out at Lenny’s Pub affordable.”

Reviews so far are exceptional.

“The food was absolutely fantastic and fairly priced. The portions were good and the service was good.” Chew B.

“Delicious food, great music, wonderful staff.” Jacqueline M.

“Went last night for the music, which was good!” Junie D.

Hours are 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and noon to 6 p.m. Sundays.

To learn more about Lenny’s, call 207-591-0175, or visit https://www.lennyspub.com/. Find them on Facebook under FB Lenny’s at Hawke’s Plaza and Instagram under Lenny’s Pub. <