Results tagged “hillykristal”

The Village Voice is reporting that Hilly Kristal was a millionaire. Not really surprising considering the owner of CBGB, who claimed to be broke, ran more than just a venue. Just look at all those kids wearing their Urban Outfitters t-shirts with the club's logo on it. Those cost money! So does everything branded with their logo at their own store.

Just weeks after the legendary former CBGB owner passed away, his heirs—who thought Kristal was broke—are finding out that the old punk impresario was worth a surprising $3.7 million.

Continue reading "Hilly's Mountain of Cash"

Happy first weekend of September - and happy Labor Day weekend, too, for our American cities! Let's take a look at what's been happening around the Ist-a-verse.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: An unstable building on Jewlett Avenue in Staten Island, a jumper down in Brooklyn and a double bank robbery (Commerce and Bank of NY) at 80 Broadway in Manhattan.
• Four winning MegaMillions tickets were sold, but in NJ, Maryland, Texas and Virginia. The numbers were 8-18-22-40-44 (with MegaBall 11), and a lump sum payment would be about $48 million.
• The fugitive businessman who donated thousands to politicians, including Senator Clinton, Governor Spitzer, Attorney General Cuomo, Representative Weiner, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, City Councilman Liu, Comptroller Thompson, has finally turned himself in after 16 years
• Former NJ governor James McGreevery is headed to the General Theological Seminary on Tuesday as a student in a non-degree program.
• Also, if it's back-to-school for students, it's back-to-finding good fake ids for college students.
• onNYTurf is demanding that the MTA offer schedule data as a public feed. We'd be surprised if the MTA can wrangle that much data, but given that they're interested in collaborating with Google...
• Musician Patti Smith posted a poem for CBGB's founder Hilly Kristal on her website
• And in Minneapolis, 19 bicyclists were arrested during Critical Mass (see photographs here) - how was last night's ride?

Just as we were looking over amNewYork's story on CBGB, sad news has come in. Hilly Kristal, who opened the club in 1973, died yesterday. Battling cancer for some time, the 75 year old had quite the last year -- seeing many celebrate his legendary club upon its closing last October.

After what seems like decades of dragging its feet, it really is going to happen. After tonight's performance by Patti Smith, CBGB's will close its doors on the Bowery for the last time.

Hilly Kristal decided to shell out $35,000 a month in rent for CBGB's Bowery Street space through October 2006, ensuring that we'll be hearing speculation about where the famed punk club will go for many, many more months. Kristal called the agreement with landlord, the Bowery Residents' Committee, "amicable," which is not only kinda unpunk, it totally reverses his pretty recent comments that CBGB's would leaving. Kristal said he was looking at various other properties, including one at Essex and Delancy owned by the city, not to mention still moving out to Las Vegas so it can showcase the Vegas-sanitized punk acts today, like My Chemical Romance. Hey, wouldn't it be punk for CBGB's to move somewhere totally random, like, say, the Bronx? The rents are probably cheap too! Anyway, it's unclear whether or not Kristal will be paying backrent that he owed (wasn't he claiming to not have paid his higher rent for a while?). Or what will happen to the Chocolate Bar's CBGB's chocolate.

And with a very un-Punk whimper CB's Hilly Kristal admits to the Post what has been obvious to the rest of us for quite some time now. CBGB's, home of Country, Blue Grass, Blues & Other Music For Urban Gourmandisers, will eventually be leaving its home on the Bowery and Joey Ramone Place for greener pastures.

As Steven Van Zandt was organizing the Save CBGB's concert in Washington Square Park yesterday afternoon, the CBGB's landlord, the Bowery Residents' Committee, announced they hoped "CBGB's will vacate the premises." However, CBGB's owner Hilly Kristal said, "We're going to fight. We deserve to be here. If they padlock the club, we're going to cut the locks." Little Stevie added that if there are court proceedings, supporters would be there with, too, making Gothamist wonder how that fight will play out in the press: Rock fans versus the homeless.

Hilly Kristal opened CBGB's in December of 1973 in hopes to bring a venue to the Bowery for...country music. Yes, country. Luckily, Kirstal welcomed all acts through the doors.