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When World Cafe Live opened over two decades ago in University City, founder Hal Real pulled off an ambitious dream — transforming a building that once served as an old toilet factory into an artistic hub and a space full of possibility.
“Real rock stars have been spotted here, too,” the Associated Press’ Jennifer Kay wrote of the newly minted space. “Buskers singing outside the glass front doors have found themselves inside playing with musical guests John Fogerty and Sophie B. Hawkins. Lunch crowds have caught Donovan and Lyle Lovett hanging out after recording at WXPN-FM next door.”
The idea was simple — a music venue with a built-in restaurant that would also serve as a new studio space for WXPN. The Inquirer’s Inga Saffron called the new venue a “shrine to indie rock.”
“World Cafe Live aims to be the Kimmel Center for listeners of WXPN-FM in both acoustics and ambience,” she said, “and in these regards it more than succeeds.”
For years, World Cafe Live has been bridging the gap of niche acts from small underground venues to a wider Philly audience. You can sit down, or you can stand. You can grab a nice cocktail and watch your favorite local jazz musician. You can check out public radio in the making.
What the space embodied in Philadelphia, is in part why recent news of bankruptcy, arrests and piling losses is all the more biting.
Tech entrepreneur Joe Callahan got the role of CEO, taking over Real’s 21-year tenure last May. At the time, he told WHYY that he would be ushering in “a 3.0 digital transformation” focusing on shows with virtual reality at the center — seemingly more Silicon Valley than indie darling.
Callahan’s first months were marked by intense labor disputes, operational turmoil and mounting financial struggle.
To recap:
In June, multiple workers walked off the job to protest hostile management and several were fired.
“We want to get paid on time,” front-of-house manager Arely Pena told WHYY. “We have no idea what’s going on. We were told that there was a plan. Now, we’re getting told that the future is uncertain.”
In July, the University of Pennsylvania sent the venue an eviction letter. Last month, the space filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy and made the controversial decision to change its iconic name to World Stage.
By September, Penn alum J. Sean Diaz was announced as the company’s new CEO.
This week, the bad press continued with confirmation of the arrest of a World Stage manager and three bartenders, who unwittingly served alcohol not knowing that the venue’s liquor license wasn’t active. Pennsylvania State Police Liquor Control Enforcement officers shut down the venue on Saturday.
The employees reportedly slept in jail cells without blankets or pillows and were served a cheese sandwich for dinner before their release the next morning.
“This feels like the final straw,” one of the arrested bartenders told the Inquirer. “Like, another stain on our reputation. I don’t know if we can come back from this.”
Online backlash has already begun. “Venue crash out of the century,” one Redditor posted.
“I worked at WCL in college, from 2007-2011. My friend, a hostess, got me the job,” another wrote. “It was such [an] incredible passionate crew of folks, top to bottom. Breaks my heart to see what it’s become.”
Still, many are likely feeling nostalgic for that space which housed John Fogerty and Sophie B. Hawkins — that represented music, art and possibility — long before the laundry list of operational troubles became apparent.
Whether World Stage is truly on its last legs remains to be seen. Right now, the venue plans to continue operating as a BYOB, per the Inquirer, but there is no clear answer yet on what the future holds.
