A ‘Cease Operations’ notice was posted on World Cafe Live’s door this week
The West Philadelphia venue has a fairly busy calendar. Whether those shows actually happen depends on the venue paying its taxes.
Is the World Cafe Live about to close for good?
The West Philadelphia music venue has been embattled since the leadership team led by Joe Callahan took over from founder Hal Real in last spring.
In May, workers walked out during a Suzanne Vega concert, complaining of “unfair treatment.” In July, the venue’s landlord, the University of Pennsylvania, delivered a notice to vacate, saying the WCL owed $1.29 million in rent and utilities.
Callahan challenged that eviction notice with a counterclaim in Common Pleas Court, with no court date currently set.
The venue has remained open as the drama has continued: the venue’s liquor license lapsed for weeks in the fall, and workers complained of light paychecks and firing without cause.
And on Wednesday, the latest sign that the venue’s immediate future is in danger appeared taped to the doors of the building at 3025 Walnut St. that also houses Penn radio station WXPN-FM (88.5), a separate business.
In bold black lettering, the notice reads: “CEASE OPERATIONS — STOP WORK ORDER.”
The notice “by order of the Department of Revenue” says the WCL, which consists of the 650-capacity downstairs Music Hall and 220-capacity Lounge, will be forced to close as of March 11 because it will lose its Commercial Activity License as a result of “serious tax violations.”
The notice was attached to the glass doors to the venue early Wednesday but had been removed from there by the end of the business day. On Thursday morning, it was taped to the wall in the entryway, facing inward and partially hidden by a traffic cone.
» READ MORE: Penn wants to evict World Cafe Live, but the venue remains open. But for how long?
Real founded the venue in 2004. It has served as a community hub as well as a home for XPN’s much-loved Free at Noon series for two decades. Does the “Stop Work Order” mean that it is bound to close for good in four weeks’ time?
Not necessarily. The WCL has a fairly busy entertainment schedule booked between now and March 11, and some dates into May and June.
XPN has brought the Free at Noon series back to the Walnut Street location after relocating to Ardmore Music Hall in November and December while the WCL’s liquor license was lapsed. There’s a sold-out show there on Friday with Sam Beam of Iron & Wine.
Shows are slated for this weekend in the Music Hall with the Jazz Room: A Journey to New Orleans and a “Don’t Call Me White Girl” comedy show. Shows scheduled in the Lounge include comedian Reginald Ballard and vocalist Alex Moreno Singer.
On March 11 — the date the stop-work notice cites as the deadline — the Poetry Cafe open-mic night is scheduled for the Lounge. Future dates include Joe Conklin & the City Rhythm Orchestra on March 20, and Martha Wash, a dance music vocalist and former member of the Weather Girls, on June 27.
Whether those shows will come to pass depends on the status of the unpaid taxes, which are being billed to Real Entertainment Philadelphia Inc., the nonprofit that still bears its founder and former CEO’s name.
Messages left for Callahan (who stepped down as CEO last fall but remains chair of the WCL board) and J. Sean Diaz, who is listed as the venue’s CEO and president on the World Cafe Live website, were not responded to on Thursday.
Stern warnings of closure from the Philadelphia Department of Revenue also occurred during Real’s tenure, World Cafe Live insiders say. They were resolved when the venue caught up on its back taxes, allowing it to stay open.
In a statement, the Philadelphia Department of Revenue said it is “unable to discuss specific taxpayers due to state confidentiality laws.”
The city, the statement reads, “pursues license revocation when a business is unregistered, has a delinquent tax balance, and/or unfiled returns.”
The posting of a revocation notice, the statement says, “indicates that the business is not tax compliant, and its removal generally indicates that the business has come into compliance.”
This article has been updated with a statement from the City of Philadelphia’s Department of Revenue.