Thankfully there are still plenty of opportunities around the house for me to wear my captain’s hat and talk like Thurston Howell III. But there’s one less opportunity to do so in the Lawrence nightlife scene. All indications are that the longtime Lawrence bar The Yacht Club has closed.

The phone line for the business has been disconnected, and I’ve chatted with a business associate of the owner who said the bar’s not just on short break. Attempts to reach the owner haven’t yet been successful.

If you are having a hard time picturing where The Yacht Club was located, don’t feel bad (unless you have driven your car into a deep body of water looking for it.) You do have to be able to navigate by the stars a bit to find the spot at 530 Wisconsin. It is a short block off Sixth Street behind the shopping center that houses Subway.

But I’m guessing many of you knew exactly where the business was at, especially if you spent any time at KU. I don’t know exactly how long the business has been in operation, but I know from personal experience that it has been more than 20 years. Many Jayhawk fans at some point made their way into the business to see the old replica scoreboard that back in the day listed the final score of the Jayhawks’ 1988 national championship triumph over Oklahoma. I think later the score was changed to show the 2008 national championship over Memphis. No, I don’t know what is happening to the scoreboard, but I’ll ask if I get in touch with the owner.

While looking at the scoreboard, you perhaps would rekindle your interest in chemistry. At least that’s how I always explained it to my folks. The Yacht Club featured a giant beer that was served in something that looked like an oversized beaker or test tube. (I guess. I’m no expert in chemistry, although there were a few times at the club when I put in the effort to be one.)

The bar underwent a pretty significant remodel in the early 2000s, and began offering a much larger menu. It really became a bar and grill at that point. No word yet on whether there are any plans for the building.

In other news and notes from around town:

• This is probably a good time to share one of the more interesting statistics I’ve found about the city recently. I know for a long time it has been thought that the bar business in Lawrence is better than alchemy. You sell a beaker of beer for $11 and watch the bank account grow. But surprisingly, the numbers show that liquor sales in Lawrence are in a bit of a funk.

The city recently released its tally of liquor sales tax collections for 2014. They actually dropped by 0.1 percent compared to 2013 totals. More significant is that the 2014 totals mark the second year in a row that liquor tax collections have declined in Lawrence. From 2012 to 2014, liquor tax collections have declined by 0.5 percent.

That’s a sharp reversal from what Lawrence bars had experience not long ago. From 2010 to 2012, the city’s liquor tax collections grew by 8.2 percent. That was generally a bad time for the economy as a whole, but it was a period of growth for the bar industry. I’ve talked to bar owners before who have said that it is not unusual for business to be good during downturns in the economy. Add your own social commentary here. What would be unusual, though, is for a prolonged decline in liquor sales in Lawrence.

One thing to keep in mind is that these liquor tax numbers don’t capture all liquor sales that occur in the city. This tax is charged just on the drinks served at bars and other drinking establishments. Liquor bought at liquor stores does not show up in these numbers.

• Practice enough chemistry, and a body at some point will need a little bit of exercise, especially around the midsection. Well, there’s news from an exercise business in Lawrence. The local Jazzercise business has a new owner and a new location.

If you remember, the Jazzercise Lawrence Fitness Center was next to the Christal K-9 pet business that caught on fire in December. The Jazzercise facility suffered damage from that fire. That fire left the Jazzercise owner looking to exit the business. Longtime Jazzercise instructor Amy Sand decided to purchase the business, and she also looked to move it to a new location.

The business has now opened at Bob Billings Parkway and Kasold Drive in the Orchards Shopping Center. Sands said the move has come at a good time. The Jazzercise business is undergoing a rebranding effort to highlight more classes that involve strength training in addition to the traditional cardio workout that the exercise program has been known for.

The Lawrence location is now offering about 37 classes a week at the new location, Sands said.