Talk:Art D'Lugoff
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I've adjusted the text to more blatantly cite The New York Times as having characterized the loss of D'Lugoff's business in the descriptive manner included in the Wiki piece, in what is being described as a negative way. Several articles, in the Times and elsewhere, describe the circumstances of D'Lugoff's bankruptcy, most of these articles including quotes from D'Lugoff himself.
Below are three samples, all from The NY Times, which can be used for additional sourcing:
1) "Art D'Lugoff, impresario extraordinaire, has seen it all and then some in a lifetime of show business. But now the owner of the legendary Village Gate faces something new: the strong possibility that he will have to close the nightclub after 36 years.
"I'm just hanging on," he said. "It's desperate."
Unbeknown to even loyal patrons, the Village Gate has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since June 1991. Costs have continued to leap ahead of revenues, and eviction from the Gate's 8,500 square feet of space at 160 Bleecker Street is a real possibility.
Investment Troubles
Part of the problem is that the world has changed. The big stars are either gone from the scene or too big for the Gate. The rising talents now have cable television and other outlets. The all-night Greenwich Village club-hoppers have vanished. Alcoholic-beverage sales have slumped everywhere.
These factors have been compounded by Mr. D'Lugoff's own mistakes, including bad investments and bad bookings. Luck has also sneered, with bad weather wiping out weekend after weekend at crucial junctures.
Most immediate, a Byzantine real-estate tangle appears to be ending Mr. D'Lugoff's sweetest deal, just $2,000 in monthly rent for three floors of prime space in a lease not due to expire until 2006. The bank into whose hands the building fell last year is offering him two choices: leave or pay something like $15,000 a month." Source: STRICTLY BUSINESS; Village Gate Struggling To Avoid Its Last Chorus, The New York Times, 8 Mar 1993
2) "Last month, when the Gate closed amid bankruptcy and eviction proceedings, its founder was already deep into a new dream: trying to find his musicians a permanent gig at their old stand. ...
Mr. D'Lugoff does hold out hope of resuscitating the club, at 160 Bleecker Street, at Thompson Street. Its "temporary" closing came after years of declining bookings and attendance, soured investments and mounting debts, including back taxes. Compounding those problems, a new landlord is trying to raise the rent from $2,000 a month to $15,000 and has gone to court to break the remaining 12 years of the lease.
The Gate suffered from many factors, Mr. D'Lugoff said, including the recession and a reduced pool of jazz stars, as big names graduated to concert halls or retired. While some clubs have been hurt, others, like the Blue Note, say they are thriving." Source: Neighborhood Report: Greenwich Village: New Gig For the Old Gate?, The New York Times, 6 Mar 1994.
3) "For the Gate, as its patrons called it, the slide has been long and steady. Mr. D'Lugoff has cited a number of reasons for the demise of his club, including a steady erosion of stars willing to play smaller venues, a slump in sales of alcoholic beverages and a tendency for people not to stay out as late.
The biggest blow was the financial demise of the Gate's longtime landlord, with whom Mr. D'Lugoff had a $2,000-a-month lease for three floors of prime space until the year 2006. The landlord's financial difficulties resulted in Chemical Bank's foreclosing on the property. No longer bound by the old lease, Chemical had suggested charging rent of $15,000 a month or more. Behind in Taxes
The club was behind in both Federal and state taxes. To protect itself from creditors, it filed for Chapter 11 protection under the Federal Bankruptcy Act as a way to reorganize its finances while holding creditors at bay. Creditors then succeeded in changing its status to Chapter 7, which means liquidation." Source: It's All Over for the Village Gate But Its Ex-Owner Looks Ahead, The New York Times, 8 Jul 1994
Pat 22:29, 24 March 2007 (UTC)
