NEW YORK, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- New York's historic Bottom Line nightclub, identified with the birth of rock 'n' roll culture, closed last weekend after battle over a rent increase.
Landlord New York University took the club's owners to court last fall for failure to pay more than $185,000 in back rent and ignoring a proposal for a new lease that would have raised the rent 50 percent to an amount comparable the going rate for retail space. The shutdown came six weeks after a judge set a date for eviction.
A club spokesman said business had dropped off after the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001, and never picked up.
"There was no formal eviction," said the spokesman, attorney Mark Alonso. "We just turned over the premises."
The 400-seat club with a tiny stage had been the launching pad for Bruce Springsteen, Miles Davis, Dolly Parton, Lou Reed, Captain Beefheart and other rock stars after its opening by Allan Pepper in 1974. Among the groups that had performed there were the New York Dolls and The Roches.
