All-Ages Rkcndy Club To Close Its Doors Oct. 31
Dead club walking. RKCNDY, which has been on death row for more than a year, will close on Halloween night.
"We're definitely closing Oct. 31," said Lori LeFavor, owner of the long-running all-ages nightclub.
This is another harsh blow to the staggering all-ages music scene in Seattle. The Velvet Elvis Arts Lounge closed at the end of June, after providing all-ages concerts in Pioneer Square for six years.
There may still be hope for the under-21 crowd. The Fenix in Pioneer Square has been hosting all-ages shows, and a new club may try to imitate the strategy of mixing all-age shows (where alcohol is not served) and over-21 concerts.
Graceland - fitting name for a club opening after the Velvet Elvis closes - hopes to open in early October with local and national indie rock bands. The club is to be located at 109 Eastlake Ave. E. - the former address of the Off Ramp, the grunge mecca that closed in March.
Graceland will put on all-ages shows if it is permitted to also have over-21 shows, according to Graceland co-owner Chris Beno (former co-owner of yet another long-running club that closed this year, Colourbox). Beno and his partners also plan to open a new over-21 dance/live-music club, I-Spy, Oct. 9, at the site of the former Weathered Wall under the Monorail.
RKCNDY, which has been hosting local and national punk and rock bands since 1991, is around the corner from Graceland/Off Ramp. The building LeFavor leases, at 1812 Yale Ave., is being sold to a developer (tentative plans are to build a hotel on the site). While LeFavor previously pledged that "we'll be hanging in there right until the wrecking ball hits," she has changed her mind. "We can't last another winter," she said.
Nightclubs typically have much slower business when the weather turns cold and wet. After RKCNDY closes, LeFavor plans to continue booking all-ages shows at DV8.