West Bank Cafe & The Laurie Beechman Theatre closing on Broadway
HELL'S KITCHEN, Manhattan (WABC) -- The West Bank Cafe & The Laurie Beechman Theatre is closing its doors for good in August.
The iconic establishment that has been open for nearly 50 years is a sacred space for experimental New York theater and comedy.
Even though employees say they don't make much money, they say that's beside the point.
"I wouldn't change it for the world, I love what I do," owner Steve Olsen said.
The Beechman Theatre is in the basement of the West Bank Cafe, which opened in 1978.
But the tiny 90-seat theater built an audience in the grime that surrounded it back then, and became a staple in the theater world and beyond.
Bruce Willis was a bartender at the West Bank Café in it's early years, Sean Penn was a regular customer and Lewis Black, a famous comedian, wrote plays downstairs for 10 years.
"A couple of months ago it was 8:30 at night and I was looking around the dining room there were seven Tony Award winners and four Pulitzer Prize winners scattered around the dining room. And it struck me that we have all known each other since we were in our 20s and 30s. And a lot of these people did plays downstairs," Olsen said.
The legendary New York night spot never recovered after COVID shut it down during the pandemic.
Olden and his staff are counting on a late summer surge in business and the city has offered to see if there is anything that can be done to help preserve the space.
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