As we first reported back on Sunday, the Webster Hall marquee became partially dislodged from the front of the landmarked building on 11th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue.
On Monday, workers started erecting a sidewalk bridge for protection until repairs can be made. Steven shared these photos from this morning ... where workers appear to continue to secure the marquee...
With the temporary structure in place, 11th Street is open again to traffic.
The new owners of the building, Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment, along with AEG-backed The Bowery Presents, filed permits in December to renovate the facility — for use in years ahead as a concert hall — and make it ADA compliant. Those permits are still waiting the city's approval, per the DOB.
The NYPD and FDNY are currently on the scene here on 11th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue... as you can see in the photo, part of the Webster Hall marquee has pulled away from the landmarked building. The street is blocked off for now.
Will check back later here to see what has transpired. (The NYPD requested a DOB inspection at the site.)
Webster Hall closed last Aug. 10. Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment, along with AEG-backed The Bowery Presents, bought the building from the Ballinger family for $35 million in the spring.
The new owners will renovate the space. They filed the permits in December for the job, which includes interior demolition and structural work to help upgrade the facility and make it ADA compliant.
Updated
William Klayer shared this photo from around 10:30 a.m. ...
And some pics with the FDNY on the scene...
A little later, crews had temporarily propped up the right side of the marquee... the street remains blocked off...
An officer on the scene said that no one actually saw the marquee come undone... one passerby tried to blame the constant construction across the street at the incoming Moxy hotel...
Reps for the newish owner of Webster Hall filed the necessary permits with the city yesterday to renovate the landmarked building on 11th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avennue.
Plans include interior demolition and structural work to help upgrade the facility and make it ADA compliant.
The Washington, D.C.-based Martinez+Johnson Architecture is listed as the architects of record. Per their website, the firm brings "their design sensitivities to cultural arts and institutional projects." Their work includes the restoration of the Kings Theatre in Brooklyn and the Boston Opera House.
Webster Hall closed on Aug. 10. Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment, along with AEG-backed The Bowery Presents, bought the building from the Ballinger family for $35 million in the spring.
The new owners will renovate the space, dropping the club nights to focus on live music. Some reports suggest that the new venue won't be ready until 2020. Billboardreported that there may be a name change here too.
Meanwhile, on Twitter...
While we freshen up, we’re going to bring you moments from your favorite Webster Hall artists. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the feed. pic.twitter.com/4pR1LqR8xp
The new owners of Webster Hall are taking the first steps toward renovating and updating the landmarked building at 125 E. 11th St. for use as a live-music-only venue.
Reps of the owners will be meeting with Community Board 3's Landmarks Committee next Tuesday, Oct. 17.
Here's the agenda item:
Certificate of Appropriateness, Webster Hall, 125 East 11th St: addition of three new doors at street level within the historic façade to improve ingress and egress, provide accessibility for the disabled, and allow more efficient load-in and out of performers.
And a notice of the meeting is posted on the building here between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue...
Adding three new doors doesn't sound like the most exciting-controversial development ... just one that's necessary to help upgrade the facility and make it ADA compliant. To date, work permits have yet to be posted with the DOB.
Webster Hall closed on Aug. 10. Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment, along with AEG-backed The Bowery Presents, bought the building from the Ballinger family for $35 million in the spring.
The new owners will renovate the space, dropping the club nights to focus on live music. Some reports suggest that the new venue won't be ready until 2020. Billboardreported that there may be a name change here too.
There still aren't any permits on file with the city to renovate the landmarked Webster Hall on 11th Street... however, over the weekend, several readers spotted a dumpster out front here between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue ... whose contents included part of a drum kit...
Anyway. A quickie recap. The venue in its most current iteration closed on Aug. 10. (You can find a Webster Hall timeline here.) Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment, along with AEG-backed The Bowery Presents, bought the building from the Ballinger family for $35 million this past spring.
The new owners will renovate the space, axing the club nights to focus on live music. Some reports suggest that the new venue won't be ready until 2020.
Webster Hall's Ballinger era has come to an end. The venue closed after a performance by Action Bronson on Thursday. (You can find a Webster Hall timeline here. The building has been around since 1886. It re-opened as Webster Hall in October 1992 after the Ballinger family purchased and renovated the space that was known as The Ritz during the 1980s.)
Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment, along with AEG-backed The Bowery Presents, teamed up to buy the landmarked building from the Ballingers for $35 million this past spring. The new owners will renovate the space, doing away with club nights to focus on live music.
Heath Miller, vice president and talent buyer at Webster Hall, told amNewYork last week that the venue will likely be closed for the next 18-plus months for renovations.
"When I was first told about the sale, it was supposed to be a short closure for minor renovations and I was told the buyers had plans to retain the venue staff, but now the closure period has grown to 18-plus months and that plan has switched from a short-term closure to a long-term closure."
As of this morning, the new owners have yet to file any work permits with the Department of Buildings (DOB) for the property on 11th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue. So that process awaits as does getting the OK for the work via the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
As previously reported, Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment, along with AEG-backed The Bowery Presents, teamed up to buy the building for $35 million.
After Thursday night, the landmarked building on 11th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue will be closed for an undisclosed period of time (likely between 18 to 24 months) for renovations and conversion to a music-only venue. (There will no longer be any club nights here, per various reports.)
In closing out the current iteration of Webster Hall, management booked surprise shows with Nine Inch Nails on July 31 and, for the last club night this past Saturday, Skrillex...
The current owners of Webster Hall offered more details about the closure of the club in a Facebook post early yesterday via Gerard McNamee Jr., director of operations...
Sad but true, the legendary and world-famous Webster Hall has been sold and will close as we know it for its final club night on Saturday August 5th, 2017, which just so happens to be my birthday, which is certainly somehow apropos. It will be closed for an undisclosed period of time for demo, reno and transition to corporate ownership under Barclays/AEG/Bowery Presents. I highly recommend that you all stop by before the end of this era to pay your respects to the Ballingers and the building for providing us with a lifetimes worth of memories.
The Ballinger family has owned and operated Webster Hall since 1989.
Anyway, so the last club night is Aug. 5. As we noted back in May, the last concert date was listed on Aug. 8 (Michelle Branch: The Hopeless Romantic Tour). A record release show with Marateck is now on the calendar on Aug. 9 in the Studio. And that's it.
After that, the new owners, Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment along with AEG-backed The Bowery Presents, will begin renovations at the landmarked building on 11th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue.
An EVG reader was at the recent CB3-SLA committee meeting in which Spectrum Catering and Concessions was applying for a new liquor license. (The 25-year-old company provides concessions for a variety of venues and festivals nationwide. In NYC, they manage Terminal 5, the Music Hall of Williamsburg, Rough Trade and Brooklyn Steel.)
Per the reader:
No more club/late night parties.
No more Marlin Room.
Reducing capacity due to the addition of elevators.
Minimum closure of 18 to 24 months starting August 11th
DNAinfo has some background on the liquor license application here.
Finally, as noted last Friday, a group of filmmakers, who are also working at the venue, hope to make a documentary on Webster Hall's last month.
As previously reported, the recently sold Webster Hall is expected to close in early August ... so that new owners Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment along with AEG-backed The Bowery Presents can begin renovations at the landmarked music venue on 11th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue.
Now, a group of filmmakers are hoping to make a documentary on the club's final month.
Since 1886 Webster Hall has stood as a gathering place ... cultivating a welcoming environment that included anyone from the mainstream, fringe, underground, or anywhere in between to congregate in the same place at the same time.
On August 9th, 2017 Webster will be closing its doors for renovations. In 2018 it will reopen under corporate management. The Producers of this short wish to make a feature-length film documenting the last month of Webster’s current incarnation in an attempt to preserve its vibe.
You can read more about the project and it goals as well as watch a short at Kickstarter.
The filmmakers have been working at Webster Hall as stage hands since early last year.
"When we discovered that one of the city's last original music venues would be shutting its doors for a corporate clean-up, we were shocked to learn how uninformed both the Webster Hall staff and its neighbors were about the transition," Sanford Jackson, one of the documentarians, said via an email. "After speaking intimately with the staff about the upcoming changeover, we felt it necessary to utilize our talents as filmmakers to document a piece that will genuinely capture what Webster Hall represents within the East Village community and the city's rich nightlife history entirely."
And what have they learned so far during filming?
"One of the more universal themes we've found when talking to staff at Webster Hall is its sheer diversity in both clientele and its staff. On a single night you might expect a children's story book play in the basement, a death metal band in the studio, and an LGBT club night in the ballroom. Thousands of people under the same roof at the same time for remarkably different reasons," said Jackson. "That said, the stories we've heard were really just snippets of a larger tale — a simple introduction to the menagerie of bacchanalia teeming in the memory banks of it's diverse neighborhood and it's employees. We're hoping to capture as much of that as possible with this doc."
As the Postreported back in April, Webster Hall was changing hands in a deal worth some $35 million.
Per the Post:
Barclays Center’s corporate parent, Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment, is teaming with AEG-backed The Bowery Presents to take over operations at the iconic music venue, whose stage has been graced by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and Tina Turner.
Brett Yormark, chief executive of Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment, told the Post: “We’re going to preserve what Webster Hall means to the consumers and artists, but we will contemporize it.” Expect food and beverage upgrades, with possible bathroom enhancements.
Jay Marciano, chairman of AEG Live, told Billboard they will spend about $10 million renovating Webster Hall's Grand Ballroom, The Studio and The Marlin Room spaces "to bring them up to contemporary standards and add a few more customer features."
So when will the current iteration of Webster Hall close? There hasn't been any announcement just yet. An EVG tipster said that it will close starting Aug. 9. The last club event is listed online on Aug. 5. The last concert date is listed on Aug. 8 (Michelle Branch: The Hopeless Romantic Tour). Fall shows have been moved to other venues...
As for renovations, to date, there's nothing on file with the Department of Buildings for renovations on the landmarked building.
As for food and beverage, reps for Spectrum Catering and Concessions were on this month's CB3-SLA docket for a new liquor license. The 25-year-old company provides concessions for a variety of venues and festivals nationwide. In NYC, they manage Terminal 5, the Music Hall of Williamsburg, Rough Trade and Brooklyn Steel.
Meanwhile, another tipster wondered what might happen to Webster Hall's 250-plus employees, who are not represented by a union. Will they have opportunities to work at the new Webster Hall?
The Ballinger family has owned and operated Webster Hall since 1989. Some history of the building via Billboard:
First built in 1886 by architect Charles Rentz, the venue served as a social hall for the Lower East Side’s working-class and immigrant population throughout the Great Depression before becoming an internationally-recognized music hall. It was purchased by RCA Records and operated as a recording studio and acoustically treated ballroom in the 1950s and '60s and then became a full-time concert venue known as The Ritz beginning in 1980.
Here's news about the venue on 11th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue via Billboard:
After 27 years of operating Webster Hall, the Ballinger family is selling the 131-year-old Manhattan concert hall to AEG Presents and Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment. The two firms will assume operating rights, assets and the long-term lease from building owner Unity Gallega while Bowery Presents will take over booking and talent buying.
According to the Post, the new owners have promised that any updates to the facility "won’t spoil its musty, lived-in charm."
Brett Yormark, chief executive of Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment, told The Post: “We’re going to preserve what Webster Hall means to the consumers and artists, but we will contemporize it.” Expect food and beverage upgrades, with possible bathroom enhancements.
Bathroom enhancements!
The Webster Hall deal was valued at some $35 million.
Webster Hall, built in 1886, was landmarked in 2008. Here's more history via Off the Grid a few years back:
Webster Hall has hosted a wide range of parties and meeting over its 129-year-old history. In its early years it “acquired a reputation as a center of leftist, socialist, anarchist, and union political activity”, according to a January 1888 Brooklyn Daily Eagle article.
Martin Shkreli, the controversial pharmaceutical CEO who once raised the price of Daraprim from $13.50 per pill to $750, is no longer scheduled to appear at Webster Hall on Monday.
The evening was billed this way:
Martin will discuss investing, healthcare and politics in a presentation/lecture format for one hour and will take questions. There will be a bar session after the Q&A where Shkreli will be available to chat and take photographs. He WILL play tracks from his unreleased music collection (Wu-Tang and more).
Shkreli, who was indicted for securities fraud, famously bought the sole copy of the Wu Tang Clan‘s "Once Upon A Time in Shaolin" in 2015 for $2 million. (He played several tracks in a livestream after Donald Trump won the presidency.)
A Webster Hall rep told Patch that the event has been cancelled without commenting further.
Shkreli confirmed the Webster Hall cancellation on Facebook...
However, tickets are still on sale for the event, with no venue listed...
Shkreli, 33, is awaiting trial for securities fraud. Prosecutors have accused him of looting the pharma company that he was heading of $11 million to pay off investors he was suspected of defrauding.
The News Cycle on the aborted early-morning Kanye West show at Webster Hall shows no sign of cycling out... local news crew are camped out outside the venue on East 11th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue...
There are all sorts of first-person accounts from the Kanyefest/Pablo Mob, including at The New Yorker and Los Angeles Times.
Neighbors who woke up to find their cars had been used as bleachers overnight were not amused.
"I thought it was going to be a quiet evening, a quiet day, and it was going to be safe," said optician Michael Gomez, 55, who parked his Chrysler and Impala in front of Webster Hall, and came back to find both had dents in the roofs and vomit on the ground nearby.
He estimated it will cost him thousands to fix his cars and says he cannot afford to make the repairs.
"I'm in shock. I'm stunned. I know I'm never going to park here again."
H/T EVG Pablo Mob correspondent Christine Champagne
After Governors Ball officials cancelled Day 3 of the outdoor festival yesterday due to the weather, several of the acts looked to play shows elsewhere. Headliner Kanye West announced a 2 a.m. show at Webster Hall.
The Daily Newsreports that it took two more hours after the show was canceled to clear the street. Police said one person was arrested for disorderly conduct.
Several readers noted the giant ball (looking slightly damaged) outside Webster Hall on East 11th Street near Fourth Avenue this morning... Majority opinion: Mini Death Star re-creation!
There are multiple reports about a fight last night at a sold-out concert at Webster Hall featuring rappers Nate "Skate" Maloley and Derek Luh, fans and security.
Much of the reporting seems to be based on accounts posted on Twitter, where the incident became a trending event.
According to one report, Luh lunged at a security guard ... then "was dragged off stage and security began shouting at fans to go home, leading to outrage among the fans near the stage. Some of them also got into altercations with security guards, leading Nate to step in and 'defend his fans.'"
There are accusations that the security guards used a taser on a concertgoer.
According to Maloley, he was midway through his set when he noticed that the security in front of the stage were assaulting a group of fans and decided to intervene on their behalf. Maloley, as you can see on the video below, reached down toward one of the security personnel after allegedly catching him using a taser on a fan close to the stage and was overwhelmed by the security force as the crowd watched on in horror.
Sad a sold out show had to end like that. It's love for my family and my fans to the death. We ride together. One love.
“He grabbed like security like off of a fan, and that’s when he got like stomped to the ground,” one woman said.
“They picked him up and threw him on the ground and starting kicking him,” the other said.
A police source told CBS 2 that there weren't any assault complaints, arrests or charges filed. It wasn't clear if there were any injuries.
The Mirror published the following sentence: "The event echoes the famous Rolling Stones Altamont tragedy in which a riot erupted among fans and the Hell's Angels."
Webster Hall posted the following message on their Tumblr:
Saturday’s incident is being fully investigated, as there are misreports about what took place. Webster Hall’s staff do NOT carry tasers and are not armed. They carry strobe flashlights. The safety of all guests is always our primary focus.
Meanwhile, fans of the rappers created an online petition to shut down Webster Hall. Per the petition: "Webster hall is disgusting after tonight 2-20-2016 they no longer deserve to be in business they had no right to race those people and assault skate, Derek and the others. It was all unnecessary [sic] and something needs to be done about it."
Today marks Webster Hall’s seventh anniversary as a New York City landmark. And on this occasion, Off the Grid takes a look at the history of the building, erected in 1886 on East 11th Street and Fourth Avenue … for an outrageous sum of $75,000.
An excerpt of the history via Off the Grid:
By the 1910s and 1920s, Webster Hall became famous for its masquerade balls, following the success of a 1913 fundraiser for the socialist magazine The Masses. The parties, which attracted the bohemians of the Village and beyond, grew more and more outlandish–and the costumes, skimpier and skimpier.
From the EV Grieve inbox ... a news release slightly edited for length ... the place opens tonight...
The Hanky Panky Club, brought to you by nightlife veterans Lon Ballinger, Gary Spencer and Sameer Qureshi, is accessed through a hidden speak easy type entrance on East 11th Street inside the iconic Webster Hall — the same private entrance used by the likes of Madonna, Mick Jagger and Bill Clinton (just to name a few).
Once inside, guests ascend the marble staircase to a stunning, velvet-walled room. The gorgeously-appointed room is a soundproof, discreet lounge experience, that boasts a full back-line stage always ready for performances. This Thursday, we have music by DJ Thomas D and Friday, a live performance by Eddie and The Gun and Nima Yamini — the man behind Avenue A Soundcheck.
What makes The Hanky Panky Club different than any other New York venue is the access to the Webster Hall balcony. This balcony overlooks the main stage of the legendary music venue ... This balcony gives The Hanky Panky Club goers the option to view the music and crowd below, all from the intimacy of a private party.
The Hanky Panky Club will also be known their commitment to impeccable customer service. Jonas, previously of King and Grove, will be at the warmly exclusive door. If the Hanky Panky Club is at capacity, Jonas will take a phone number and texts guests when the club is ready. The wait staff will be dressed in feminine, sexy tutus inspired by famed London Nightclub Owner Peter Stringfellow, modelesque go-go dancers will fluidly dance about the room and atop the bar. These ladies are trained to not only bring the bottle, but the etiquette of a private lounge from a time when service was the ultimate element.
The Hanky Panky Club, located at 125A East 11th Street, will be open every Thursday - Saturday where each night you will know to expect a well known DJ spinning the vibe of the room to perfection. Thursdays think soul, Fridays think electronic and Saturday night - anything goes... Be prepared for energetic beats and spontaneous live performances.
