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CBGB to close September 30, move to Las Vegas
Scott Heisel on 7/6/06 @ 4:13 PM
The influential rock club, whose lease ran out in 2005 and whose owner, Hilly Kristal, owed close to $100,000 in back-rent to his landlord, the Bowery Residents' Committee, received an extension on its lease late last year through Oct. 31. Kristal has now said the club will close Sept. 30, with the venue being dismantled throughout October and key pieces being moved to a new, currently undisclosed location in Las Vegas, where the club will open anew next spring.
"[The Vegas CBGB] won't be the same size or the same shape, but I am going to have all the things that matter there," Kristal told MTV News. "I am taking the bars with me, I am taking the stage -- I'm taking the urinal that Joey [Ramone] pissed in with me. I'm going to take a lot of things -- anything that makes this place CBGB.
"I'll make it CBGB, and even more so," he continued. "I think we can do better, starting in a new place, where the city's for it. It's more important to try to keep things going and moving up."
Kristal also announced that there will be a two-month sendoff for the venue all throughout August and September with both headliners and up-and-comers gracing the stage one last time. The schedule of events should be announced shortly.
CBGB had been located in the same space -- 315 Bowery in New York City -- since its 1973 opening, and was partially responsible for launching the punk and new-wave movements of the '70s via showcasing acts like the Ramones, Television, Patti Smith and others. Kristal has owned the venue since its inception.
