I was very sad to learn, this morning, about the impending fate of 140 West 24th Street.
You may remember a post from a little over year ago here about an obscure hardcore punk venue at that address called The Plugg Club, which had fleetingly played host to bands like the Misguided and, more prominently, Sonic Youth. Well, as explained in that post, the Plugg Club was basically just a synonym for The Red Door, the fabled original venue of rock visionary, Giorgio Gomelsky.
A tireless music fan, scene-maker, songwriter, producer and manager (he counted the Rolling Stones as early charges), filmmaker and all-around-hepcat, Giogrio Gomelsky — who passed away, last year — was famous for exuded an ageless appreciation for rock n’ roll in its many permutations, setting up the Red Door as a haven for the similarly inclined.
My good friend and fellow music geek extraordinaire Steve Holtje posted this article on my Facebook feed this morning, and it took a big shit on my day.
140 West 24th is being razed. The development company who owns the building and its neighboring structure say there are no current plans about what will come next, but one can help feeling that it’s inevitable that a gaudy condo will shortly sprout up in its place.
Because that’s how New York rolls now.
A little more about Gomelsky and the Red Door…
A Living Multimedia Tribute to Giorgio Gomelsky in New York City, May 2015 from Hyphen Hub on Vimeo.
Recent Comments