SAD NEWS: ART D'LUGOFF (1924-2009)
Moments before we sent out our newsletter today we received word from Jamie deRoy that Art D'Lugoff, owner of The Village Gate passed away last night. THE VILLAGE GATE was a nightclub at the corner of Thompson and Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village, New York. Art opened the club in 1958, on the ground floor and basement of 158 Bleecker Street. The large 1896 Chicago School structure by architect Ernest Flagg was known at the time as Mills House No. 1 and served as a flophouse for transient men. Throughout its 36 years the Village Gate featured such musicians as John Coltrane, Coleman Hawkins, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Bill Evans, Vasant Rai, Nina Simone and Aretha Franklin, who made her first New York appearance there. The show Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, debuted at the Village Gate in 1968. (taken from Wikipedia). More details on Monday and/or on the website as received.
