the Bottom Line closes...

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The Bottom Line, a Historic Nightclub, Calls It Quits

By JAMES BARRON

Published: January 24, 2004

The Bottom Line, the Greenwich Village music club that was a launching pad for the likes of Bruce Springsteen and other rock stars, shut its doors on Thursday after almost three decades as a music industry landmark, its lawyer said yesterday.

The lawyer, Mark Alonso, said that the club had vacated its space on West Fourth Street, ending a long-simmering landlord-tenant fight that boiled over when New York University took the club to court last fall over its failure to pay more than $185,000 in back rent. N.Y.U. owns the building that housed the Bottom Line, a longtime showcase for unknowns and well-knowns that had fallen on hard times in recent years.

"There was no formal eviction," Mr. Alonso said. "We just turned over the premises.'' Of the club's owners and N.Y.U., he said, "They parted amicably.''

A spokesman for N.Y.U., Josh Taylor, said, "It's a sad day for everyone.''

And musicians whose careers had been given a boost at the Bottom Line mourned its closing. "This is a kind of a grieving period for all of us,'' said Will Lee, a guitarist in the band on "Late Show with David Letterman.'' "It was a fight everybody didn't want to lose, but I guess it's over.''

David Johansen, who was the lead singer of the New York Dolls in the 1970's, said the 400-seat club with the postage-stamp-size stage had somehow been more than just a place to perform. "It's been essentially my living room,'' he said. "I was very comfortable on that stage. I never really had to think before I walked out; it came naturally to me.''

The club's shutdown came six weeks after a judge set a deadline for it to pay its back rent or face eviction, a deadline the club missed. N.Y.U. went to court saying that the club's owners had ignored a university proposal for a new lease that would have raised the rent. N.Y.U. officials maintained that the Bottom Line, which opened in February 1974, was paying about half what comparable retail space now goes for.

Allan Pepper, who opened the Bottom Line with a partner, Stanley Snadowsky, did not answer a request for comment that was placed with Mr. Alonso yesterday. In September, Mr. Pepper said that the Bottom Line's business dropped off after the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001. He said that he had covered the payroll and taxes with about $50,000 in insurance money and emergency aid. He also said the club had paid its monthly $11,000 rent regularly since June.

There had been talk of finding new backers, of arranging a payoff schedule on the back rent. But yesterday, there was only a goodbye message on the club's Web site, www.bottomlinecabaret.com. It thanked fans who had shown support for the club by signing petitions, buying T-shirts and attending performances.

"The Bottom Line has always been about the music, and we find fulfillment in knowing that we have stayed the course and remained true to our vision," the message read.

Bottom Line regulars agreed with that idea as they reflected on the closing. "I just think it's really the end of an era and a type of approach to presenting music that I hope will not die out entirely," said Terre Roche of the Roches, a group that began appearing at the Bottom Line soon after it opened. "Allan had his own way of doing things, and he stuck to his guns."

And the club, she said, "wasn't just about what was popular - he presented things that you wouldn't think would be on the same stage."

A generation ago, the Bottom Line was a make-or-break stop for new musicians and a stomping ground for established acts. "For myself, that was a major experience for my group, playing at the Bottom Line," Ms. Roche said. She had a party for her 50th birthday there in April. "I'm very glad to have been able to do that before they closed."

Many musicians had anticipated the closing even as they dreaded it. "We never knew what day the ax was going to fall," said Richard Barone, the director of "The Downtown Messiah," a modern interpretation of the Handel masterpiece that had been staged at the club for the last six winters. "We all knew it was coming."

Mr. Barone said that when he heard on the radio that the Bottom Line had closed, "my first thought was New York had lost a sacred place like Lourdes or the Taj Mahal."

"This was where I saw all the rock gods I came to New York to be near: Captain Beefheart, Lou Reed, the Roches," he said.

Ms. Roche said she had hoped the club would be rescued. "You figured somebody was going to step in," she said. "Allan helped foster us by giving us gigs on a regular basis, so I feel a real debt of gratitude to him and the club. I'm going to miss it."