December 17, 2007

Bottom Line: Brooklyn's Where It's At For Venues?

There was an interesting piece in the Times yesterday about how the owner of the legendary Village venue The Bottom Line is looking to open a new spot in Brooklyn. A few years ago, the Bottom Line's owner, Allan Pepper, was booted from his 4th Street space (pictured above) by his landlord, NYU, for failing to pay back rent; Pepper has since started scouting Brooklyn for a place to open another Bottom Line with an adjacent pub. The story is chock-a-block with great quotes about how Manhattan is "dead to live music" and Brooklyn is a better bet for the intersection of art and commerce. “In Manhattan I’ve found that it’s really about dollars and cents,” say Pepper, “and even when you attempt to talk to people that you think could understand on some kind of aesthetic level what you’re trying to accomplish, I haven’t got the same reaction that I’ve got with Brooklyn.” We still make the trip across the East River for a lot of concerts (and we've liked some of the Manhattan venues that opened this year, like Terminal 5 and the Highline Ballroom), but it's not surprising that the island's crazy high real estate values and ever-increasing corporate homogeneity mean more and more venue operators are eying Brooklyn.
A Fabled Club Seeks an Encore in Brooklyn [NY Times]
Photo of the old Bottom Line space by fotemas.

Posted by Gabby at 9:30 AM | Comments (11)
Categories: Arts