Penn wants to evict World Cafe Live, but the venue remains open. But for how long?

Since World Cafe Live founder Hal Real stepped down as CEO in May, drama at the University City music venue has been unending.

Joseph Callahan, who brought the Portal to Philadelphia in 2024, took over from Real and pledged to save the nonprofit venue from financial ruin and $6 million of accumulated debt, in part by turning it into a virtual reality entertainment hub.

But Callahan’s management style conflicted with staffers who, he said, were infected by a “culture of complacency.” Tensions spilled onto the street in June as workers walked out during a Suzanne Vega concert, protesting “unfair treatment” and what they said were light paychecks.

Labor peace seemed to be achieved during a rowdy town hall meeting in July, when then-World Cafe Live president Gar Giles said the company had agreed to collective bargaining with production and front-of-house workers who unionized with IATSE Local 8 and Unite Here Local 274.

But this fall, union organizers say, the venue has reneged on that promise, and on the pledge, made by new CEO J. Sean Diaz in September, to hire back fired employees.

“World Cafe Live has refused to come to the bargaining table,” said Unite Here’s Mat Wranovics. Some workers have been sent letters claiming they owe money back to the company. Others had paychecks deposited into their bank accounts, they say, only to have the money withdrawn without explanation.

And workers are not the only ones expressing frustration with Callahan and his management team — so is the venue’s landlord, the University of Pennsylvania.

The university owns the building at 3025 Walnut St. that houses World Cafe Live’s 650-capacity Music Hall and 220-capacity Lounge. It is also home to the university’s radio station, WXPN-FM (88.5), which is a separate business.

According to public documents obtained by The Inquirer, as early as July, Penn’s real estate office sent Callahan and Giles notice that they had defaulted on their lease and owed the university $1.29 million for rent and utility payments dating back to April 2022. (Callahan has said that in the period before he took over as chairman of the World Cafe Live board, the venue was losing between $45,000 and $70,000 per month.)

Most of that bill had accrued while Real — who converted World Cafe Live into a nonprofit in 2018 — was still CEO. Callahan and Giles were granted 12 days to pay, stressing that the grace period “is being afforded to you only because of Landlord’s relationship with prior management and WXPN, not you.” The last two words were underlined for emphasis.

On July 22, Penn lawyers delivered a notice to vacate, terminating their lease with Real Entertainment LLC. (The venue is still identified by the name Real gave it in 2004.)

World Cafe Live, however, remains in business, with a busy schedule this weekend: Indie band Carbon Leaf is playing the Music Hall on Friday, and country-folk stalwarts Pure Prairie League on Saturday.

That’s because Real Entertainment, with Callahan as its chairman, challenged the eviction notice with a counterclaim in Common Pleas Court.

It states that World Cafe Live has been engaged “in ongoing negotiations regarding lease modifications and denies it is in default,” and adds that “the alleged amount owed is disputed, inaccurate and does not account for significant offsets, concessions and mutual understandings between the parties.”

The case is scheduled for a trial date in January. This week, a spokesperson for Penn’s facilities and real estate services declined to comment.

Diaz was brought in as World Cafe Live’s president and CEO in September by Callahan, who remains chairman of the board. Diaz is a Penn alum, an entertainment lawyer, a former DJ, and a band manager whose clients have included WanMor, the vocal group of Boyz II Men’s Wanya Morris’ four sons, who are also all named Wanya.

His appointment as the new CEO was announced on social media in September. He was also named Giles’ replacement as president.

“I’m not a proxy for Joe,” Diaz said in an interview this week. Callahan, he said, had extracted himself from day-to-day operations to focus on technology concerns.

In that same announcement, Diaz said that all terminated employees would be hired back. Former employees said they did receive emails urging them to request an interview, but none had been rehired.

“I should have chosen my words more carefully,” he admitted.

He also expressed optimism that the conflict over the lease could be resolved and that World Cafe Live and Penn could come to terms to keep the venue open.

“There needs to be a meeting of the minds,” said Diaz, who lives in Voorhees, in South Jersey. “Penn’s main concern, obviously, is getting paid as a landlord and making sure that XPN has the continuity they’re built up in that building. That’s an important partnership.”

That partnership is not currently on the best of terms. Since word got out that World Cafe Live’s liquor license lapsed on Oct. 31, XPN has moved its beloved “Free at Noon” concert series to Ardmore Music Hall, where the Budos Band will play Friday. The series will stay there at least until Jan. 2.

Diaz acknowledged alcohol had been served at some World Cafe Live shows after the license had expired, saying he anticipated the venue would have to pay a penalty for the infraction. “But what does everybody want? The city and the state want their tax revenue. Penn wants XPN back in the building. So we are working to resolve this as fast as possible.”

In the meantime, World Cafe Live is a BYOB venue. On Thursday, a sign on the window said ticket holders would be charged $20 per person for bringing their own drinks, and $10 if they ordered food.

Employees like Emilia Reynolds, who is one of two former World Cafe Live bartenders who spoke to The Inquirer, do not believe Diaz’s claim that he is not Callahan’s proxy.

“Joe does all the work behind the scenes,” Reynolds said of Callahan, who is also CEO of California-based Sansar, a virtual reality company. “He tells everyone what to do.”

Reynolds, who started tending bar at World Cafe Live in 2023, said they were optimistic about this summer after “me and all my coworkers all got together and unionized the building and got our recognition.”

But that optimism waned in the fall, Reynolds said, after the company did not come to the bargaining table.

“Then fast-forward to Oct. 1, when I woke up without a paycheck. Or, to be more specific, I woke up with a paycheck and then a few hours later had the exact same amount taken right back out.”

Reynolds confronted Callahan after a show later that month about the missing money and was told “that I was one of 16 people who maliciously stole from the company and manipulated payroll.”

Two days later, they were fired via email.

Reynolds, Wranovics said, is among the employees who “were fired for a totally outrageous situation relating to the fact that they had not received pay.”

Diaz did not address Reynolds’ case but claimed that “there was some manipulation of the payroll, with employees logging in for rates or hours they weren’t authorized at.”

Allison Eskridge, also a bartender, first worked at World Cafe Live in 2005 for a two-year stint, then returned in 2015.

Like Reynolds, Eskridge talks fondly about the community of coworkers during the Real years. “Hal was always hands on. He was always going to the shows and passionate about the music. It felt like there really wasn’t another place like it. It was really, really special,” she said.

Eskridge said she was not paid for two pay periods in October and is owed between $1,000 and $2,000. After sending multiple emails to managers about her missing money that were not responded to, she, too, received a termination notice via email, she said.

“It just said: ‘Your services are no longer required.’”

On Oct. 12, State Rep. Rich Krajewski and City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, who both represent the University City area, posted a joint social media video after visiting World Cafe Live.

“We are here to show solidarity with the workers,” Krajewski (D., Phila.) said in the video, adding that he was “extremely disappointed and ashamed that the workers have been mistreated, they have had wages taken away from them.”

He went on to call on management “to do better and come to the table and negotiate in good faith.”

“We came here today to meet with management,” Gauthier said, only to find no managers at the venue. “We are here to say: Pay your workers.”

Current and former workers have an online presence on Instagram under the handle Save World Cafe Live. On Jan. 11, Unite Here and the United Musicians and Allied Workers union will present a “World Cafe Live Workers Benefit” show at Johnny Brenda’s featuring Philly acts Carsie Blanton, Ray Drezner, Izzy True, and Sad13.

With the chaos and accusations of mismanagement, can World Cafe Live survive?

Diaz believes it’s too important not to.

“There’s a real cost” if the venue were to close, he said. “Not just to World Cafe Live as a brand, but to XPN, to Penn, to West Philadelphia, to the city, to this community.”

Though the World Cafe Live calendar has been thin and uninspired in recent weeks, Diaz said that by cutting costs, “we have got the operation to the point where it’s financially stable.”

He welcomes Callahan’s metaverse ideas if they can bring in new revenue streams, but said he imagines a venue that can sustain itself by being “more accessible and inclusive.”

“And when I say that, everybody thinks I just mean race, but I don’t. It means to be more accessible to the arts in a broader way. More kinds of music, but also dance, theater, and food events. You have to make this a place that more people have access to.

“It’s going to take the right resources, the right timing, the right relationship with Penn, and some resetting to bring it back,” Diaz said. “But what I do believe is that people are forgiving. And if you do the right thing, people will come back and support.”

This article has been updated with the correct pronouns for Emilia Reynolds and the correct price for BYOB tickets at WCL. Reynolds uses they/them pronouns and the tickets cost $20.