Phil is right.
Hard Times for Clubs on East Side
In the latest round of real estate brush fires to hit the downtown rock scene, several clubs in the East Village and on the Lower East Side are facing their demise, including CBGB, the Bowery dungeon that was the birthplace of punk in the 1970's.
Besides CBGB, the clubs in danger include the Luna Lounge, Fez and Tonic. Between eviction notices, doubled rents and owner renovations, they face an uncertain future; Luna and Fez will close at their current locations in the next few weeks.
CBGB, as The Village Voice reported this week, is facing a lease renewal in August, and its landlord has nearly doubled the rent, to about $40,000 a month, said Lisa Kristal, a lawyer and the daughter of Hilly Kristal, who opened the club in 1973.
The Luna Lounge, a 2,000-square-foot sliver on Ludlow Street, will close at the end of the month after a 10-year run because its building was sold and will be demolished to make room for a high-rise, said Rob Sacher, an owner. He said he hoped to move the club to a space on Essex Street but was also considering moving to Brooklyn.
Fez, a plush, faux-Moroccan cabaret in the basement of the Time Cafe on Lafayette Street, will close on March 17. Ellen Cavolina Porter, who books the club, said that the owners were shutting down for a top-to-bottom renovation but that there were no plans to reopen Fez. Tonic, the home of avant-garde music, is fighting an eviction notice.
But even as some longstanding clubs face closure, new ones sprout up. In the past year or two, the neighborhood around Tonic and the Luna Lounge has seen Pianos, Sin-é, Rothko and the Delancey arrive.
This month Smalls, the influential jazz club on West 10th Street that closed in 2003, announced that it would reopen in the same space next month. And John Zorn, the patriarch of the downtown avant-garde scene, will be the artistic director of a tiny new club, the Stone, on Avenue C.
Owners of endangered clubs complain that rents and insurance charges have skyrocketed and that city officials show little interest in helping them survive.
Councilman Alan J. Gerson, who represents much of Lower Manhattan, said he had proposed a plan to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to develop mixed-use buildings that would preserve room for artists and performance spaces. But he acknowledged that there was no recourse for endangered clubs.
"If a club is renting from a private entity without city involvement," he said, "there's very little we can do, unfortunately."
― Je4nne ƒury (Jeanne Fury), Thursday, 17 February 2005 21:31 (twenty years ago)
Aw, I like Fez. Bummer.
Do they have sake bars in D.C.? If not, take 'em to that place named after the woman's dog, whatzitcalled...Chibi's Bar. But not that, actually, I'm thinking of the smaller spinoff...Chibitini on Clinton St. I like that place.
Also, it's pretty easy to impress people with Chumley's just by knowing where it is. Good beer, too.
― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Friday, 18 February 2005 09:46 (twenty years ago)