Another New York landmark to shut its doors

[Dmitry]

It used to be the place to hear Bob Dylan, Miles, etc etc.

Sad stuff...

[JSngry]

What's the reason?

[Soul Stream]

George Bush

[skeith]

Those who minimize the impact of 9/11 on the NYC economy ought to think about this article.

[maren]

This is really sad -- read it on the way to work this morning. Maybe it won't really happen (first show I saw at the Bottom Line was Betty Carter in 1980). But NYU (the landlord) is pretty voracious about property in their neck of the West Village -- recently knocked down a building dating from 1800 that Poe and Mark Twain had lived in, over the protests of just about everybody.

The NY Times article linked above includes one particularly obnoxious (IMHO) quote from an NYU spokesman:

"You ask, `Will closing the Bottom Line mean the next Bruce Springsteen won't be discovered?' " Mr. Beckman said. "I ask, `Will keeping it open mean that the next Albert Einstein might not get educated here?' "

I wasn't aware Einstein was an NYU alumnus??!!! I mean, the real Bruce Springsteen played at the real Bottom line -- maybe the club should seize the PR opportunity handed it by Mr. Beckman and ask for the backing of ACTUAL but apparently dissed NYU alumni: Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, Joel Coen, Chris Columbus, Bill Duke, Amy Heckerling, Jim Jarmusch, Ang Lee, Nancy Savoca, Oliver Stone, Tony Kushner, George C. Wolfe...

Edited September 15, 2003 by maren

[Christiern]

The Bottom Line is the only NYC establishment I refused to go to for a review. These people were unbelievably rude.

[Dmitry]

I used to pass by the BL every day when I was a student at NYU and now still when I walk by it I look at the bill-board to see who's playing.

Last gig I saw there was the Fairport Convention.

It has no replacement..

[7/4]

The Bottom Line is the only NYC establishment I refused to go to for a review. These people were unbelievably rude.

I used to go there for fusion gigs in the '80's.

Bruford. Holdsworth, Torn and others.

We used to get there hours early and wait in line. I think I was waiting

at a Holdsworth gig and it started raining. So the people in line gathered under the awning to the club and one of the owners came out and gave us alot of crap for hanging there. "My business!" Af if we were not there for a show. That kind of shit pays off in the long run.

[J Larsen]

This closing (which is not official yet, BTW) has NOTHING to do with the post-9/11 NYC economy and EVERYTHING to do with the fact that the two worst landlords in NYC are NYU and Columbia University. NYU demolished the Paladium and the Fillmore East long before 9/11, and they've been trying to tear down the Poe and Twain houses for many years. Not mentioned in the article is the fact (admission: I have this "fact" from a bartender at the BL who is an old friend of mine from another context) that the reason BL is so far behind in their rent is that NYU jacked the rent with the specific purpose of forcing them out so that they could use the space.

Edited September 16, 2003 by J Larsen

[skeith]

JLarsen, I got the picture on the rent increase, but I was reacting to the owner's stated reason (9/11) for part of the downturn in business- I sense you think he is not being honest. I am aware of NYU's voracious appetite for land of late, and by the way, the Poe house is already gone.

But having lived here for 15 years, I have never seen more going out of business signs in lower Manhattan than I have in the last 2 years and I am talking about areas fairly distant from NYU. Maybe losing 50,000 customers has something to do with it. In addition, the media has reported that tourism is down both from the US and overseas and my sense is that a fair amount of clubgoers maybe tourists. I have also heard that enrollment of foreign students has dropped way off.

Anyway, I hope you are right - but things don't look great to me yet, still.

[skeith]

I keep forgetting to say that I saw two very memorable Sonny Rollins performances at the Bottom Line and that they had the worst pizza I have ever eaten in my life.

[J Larsen]

skeith, I realized after my (drunken) post above that the Poe house was torn down a couple of years ago. I tried to forget about that, I guess. I beleive the Twain house still stands. I passed by it fairly recently.

[sidewinder]

Isn't there any sort of Government 'listing' system to protect important monuments/buildings in the US that could have applied to the Poe house? Over here we have the Grade 1/Grade 2 protected monument/building scheme which usually (but not always) keeps the developers at bay. Lack of respect for national heritage is getting to be a universal problem though ...

[maren]

Isn't there any sort of Government 'listing' system to protect important monuments/buildings in the US that could have applied to the Poe house?

The thing is, New York has been home to a lot of historically important people -- and a lot of them were fairly transient. There is now a New York City landmarks commission that awards landmark status (it didn't exist back in the 60s when Penn Station was knocked down to build Madison Square Garden) but getting that status is a complicated process. A building has to have "overwhelming" architectural and/or historical significance. And the architectural usual trumps the historical. Plus an institution like NYU has extra clout when they claim their needs prevail. The Poe house was denied landmark status because: he didn't live there VERY LONG, the building "had already been internally modified from its original condition" and was said not to be architecturally unique or outstanding.

[AmirBagachelles]

Sorry to see it go as an atmospheric-plus to that area of downtown, after oh 15+ yrs I am still finding it tough without the great Lone Star on W13th. That one killed me when it closed, and changed my nights out immediately. (I lived down the street.) I hope Tonic moves uptown a bit, they have what I like now, but what a dump.