The resurrection of Cooper Street takes place at 5 p.m. today, and it is expected that the line will start forming early as the word spreads around town.

The menu will be "a little bit different," said bar manager Brenda Writer, and there will be a few new beers available, but just about everything else will be the same as it ever was at 508 E. Cooper Ave., site of one of Aspen's funkier watering holes.

"We want to work where we used to work, the same way people want to come where they used to come," said Writer, who added that much of the old bar staff will be on duty again, although the eatery will hire a new staff of waiters. Writer said she planned to spend today taking delivery of beer, getting the kitchen in order, and prepping for the opening.

Ashin Kc, owner of the Siamese Basil restaurant in the basement of the Cooper Street building, took over the bar upstairs right after former manager Charles Wolf closed the doors on June 21. He said Wolf turned the business over to him rather than pay an "exit fee" that Kc said Wolf owed him under the terms of his agreement with Wolf and the building's owners.

The bar, formally called the Cooper Street Pier, closed when the Colorado Department of Revenue imposed a one-month suspension of its liquor license in response to a massive drug bust by local, state and federal law enforcement authorities in December.

That bust yielded arrests of employees at Cooper Street and neighboring Little Annie's Eating House, who were said to be dealing drugs out of the kitchens of the two businesses. The Cooper Street license suspension was announced in June, and Little Annie's is waiting to see if it receives similar treatment from the state.

Cooper Street's new boss, Kc, said that although he has served some Thai-style lunches in the interim from his downstairs kitchen, he has been "running at a loss" while trying to straighten out a bureaucratic tangle Wolf left behind and reopen the bar under its old identity.

"It was supposed to be a turnkey operation," Writer interjected, but Wolf failed to turn over a year-long lease, as state law requires, before the Siamese Basil liquor license could be expanded to include the upstairs premises.

Writer praised local real estate broker Josh Saslove, who takes ownership of the building in October and plans to redevelop the property, and City Clerk Kathryn Koch "for working with us to get our jobs back."

And, she said, "We're really happy that we have new ownership to work under. I don't think any of us would have returned if we still had Charles to work under. I think it's pretty hard to be loyal to someone who has no loyalty to his staff." She said Wolf not only failed to leave the business under the correct kind of lease for business to resume, but was "pretty difficult to work with" in getting the mess straightened and showed little concern for the welfare of his employees.

"Had the lease been properly done, we could have been open the whole time," Writer maintained.

"We went through a lot of hassles," Kc agreed. "We only got that lease last week, and it could have been the beginning of the month." He, too, praised Saslove for having his own attorney work on the matter "just to help us out," noting that Koch approved the liquor license expansion as soon as the lease issue was straightened out.

Bartender Chip Blake, who is one of the returning staff along with Tony Slanga and Paul Maguire, said with a grin that "it will be all the bartenders you love to hate."

As for the hiatus, he said, "It's been hard. For the last month I've been like a man without a country."

Sasha Schroeder, who also is returning to work at Cooper Street, agreed: "It's disturbed the balance of Aspen."

Writer said that Saslove has told her the bar can stay in business until it is time to redevelop the building, which she said "could be as much as a couple of years." Saslove has submitted plans to the city for redevelopment, but those plans currently are on hold.

Among the changes Writer talked about is the fact that, in reaction to the drug busts that led to prosecution of several Cooper Street employees, "There will be cameras upstairs. There will be new security measures. They're watching us pretty closely."

Turning to news of great importance to Cooper Street fans, she said happy hour will be 4-6 p.m.; during regular hours, pitchers of beer will be $6, well drinks will be $3, and shots will be $2.

Summing up the new regime, Blake said with another smile, "cheap beer and bad service, just like always."

As the bar staff posed for a picture at the front windows next to the street, a passer-by noted, "Man, that's a pretty picture."

Recognizing a former regular, Slanga called to the retreating form, "Friday, 5 o'clock," getting a muffled, "All riiight, I'll be there" in return.

After the interview concluded, the entire staff headed over to the Red Onion to have a farewell shot with another former Cooper Street barkeep, Toast (whose real name is Michael Puariea), who was working his final shift before moving out of Aspen.

John Colson can be reached at jcolson@aspentimes.com