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Will Rififi Be the Next Venue Casualty?
By
Jen Carlson
Published Nov 2, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Nov 2, 2007
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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A few days ago The Apiary suspected that someone was out to get Rififi after reading some new comments on an old post about the multi-purpose venue, and hearing their liquor license was about to expire. One of the managers, Karin Stanley, quickly responded -- confirming the site's suspicions:
Unfortunately you are correct, there is a smear campaign being perpetrated against Rififi by some of the tenants in the surrounding buildings. They are intent on ousting Rififi during this period of license renewal, soliciting surrounding tenants to make complaints, abusing the SLA complaint webpage, and invoking archaic and racist cabaret laws (please refer to this site for a history of the cabaret laws in New York City). Many of these people seem to believe it is illegal for people to eat, drink and make merry.
Rififi seeks to nurture a copacetic relationship with our community and many tenants who live in the very same buildings as our opponents attend our shows, patronize Rififi on the weekends and are keeping us up to date in the neighbors efforts to taint the police and SLA against us. There is also talk of a luxury highrise building being erected across the street and this campaign may well be an effort to cleanse the block of 'undesirable' business.
Earlier this year, in January, undercover cops busted Rififi and mounted police showed up to "control the crowd" (detailed report here). In April, the venue was up for sale with a listing on Craigslist, and even though Stanley stated that they plan to stay open, we wonder if it'll go the way of Mo' Pitkins. She did state the future was uncertain -- and it's still listed at $300K on the Buchbinder & Warren Realty Group site.
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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