TXR Park lease in question (Marin IJ)

They’ll figure it out. 

San Rafael should bite the bullet and give them a year for $1k instead of $15 as it's such "a great example of a public-private partnership."

The place was a scum-pit before that.

What that article says to me is the end TXR is likely near. Kind of odd to not renew the lease when it's the only place you can really hve shows these days.

Makes me wonder.

Watching from afar... sad to think that the time may have come.

Take care, Pete.

Seems like the profits made there way outweigh the 15,000.00 fee.

If they don't renew, Woz may be right.

MarkD are in the know on the finances?   I mean that's just the fee for the park.  They still have rent to pay for the restaurant and the grate room.   Add Food, staff, payroll taxes, liquor license, paying the other musicians, and not being able to run at full capacity, the profits shrink fast.

Mark is saying the same thing i Implied. The cost of renting the park is nominal, so not renewing the lease indicates the Lesh clan is moving on. It was a great run, I'm glad to have been a part of it these past ten years.

Phil should go Deep on this...

...Pockets that is

Save TXR gofundme ha

The article didn't say it is not being renewed, only that a decision isn't yet made.  Could Phil & Co be holding out for better terms, more favorable concessions from the city? Sure, that is one possibility.  Could they decide to give up the outdoors and just do indoor shows and food, maybe.  The extra outdoor space gives them flexibility, increased capacity, but there is rent, additional insurance, etc.  Could it be a harbinger that they are closing the doors, maybe.  Every music venue and restaurant has been severely impacted by COVID, so the economic model is much different now than 2 years ago.  Phil has said he wants a place for family--like Levon's barn that he can pass down to his kids to keep the spirit alive so I would be surprised if it closes because his kids have a good thing for their next gen and where else are they going to play?  Who knows, but we will find out soon.  Lets hope he doesn't turn it over to shappy or have shappy manage it and it becomes Brooklyn Bowl, or Phil plays there but ownership is transferred over to Shappy-kind of a lease-back.  Ya never know.

Brooklyn Bowl San Rafael

If the bocce ball court is still out back, they are halfway there

(Well, at least the last time I was at TXR, Phil sat at the table right next to us while Sless played pedal steel with his cowboy band... so close I coulda snatched a pickle off his plate...good times.)

Nothing Lasts.

the city should be stoked to have had that revenue and offer a break....you know, due to covid...

never been to a park show, i should change that next week i guess.

and yeah, i wouldn't be surprised if they called it. 

2 tough businesses to be in

Strong work Alan.

Time will tell, it ain't Dead yet....

Local - just my luck Phil opens his place like 10 minutes after I move out of San Rafael (within sight of the tall sign) down to San Mateo. It will always be the Seafood Peddler to me. 

The Seafood Peddler was most excellent.  .

The Seafood Peddler was good; we went there a few times, then went to the Palm Ballroom, remember that? 

After Phil took over that one, I took my mom, who was visiting, to the new incarnation of the Seafood Peddler in Sausalito (in the old Cat and the Fiddle space).

Great space but the food sucked. Really. I was sorry I took her there. Oh well, you can't win them all.....

    (I was part of the first crew of people hired when they opened TXR in 2012. Of course I could go on about how crazed and frenzied it was at the beginning, but a bunch of people here remember that).

The stories that will never be told.

 >>The cost of renting the park is nominal,

Nominal?  Insignificant?  How do you know that?   Again are you in the know with the finances?  Easy to say when you are spending other people's money :-). 

It seems to me It is the minimum investment needed for TXR to keep the park going.  The starting point for spending into the next year..  A down payment on a commitment to spend more resources (time,energy,cash).

Our first trip back to TXR in the COVID era was one of the Dylan birthday shows, a "pod show", and while the restaurant and bar were closed, we were allowed inside (with masks) to use the restrooms.  The next show was after things "opened up".  No pods, vaxxed only.  Access to the restrooms was denied, only porta-potties.  Ugly rumors were circulating about a break-in during the COVID closure, with theft and damage to the kitchen.  We also heard that aside from the park lease, the property owner (not Phil) was interested in selling the property outright.

I didn't realize that was actually public property.  Does TXR have an exclusive lease agreement that runs 24x7x365?

>Nominal?  Insignificant?  How do you know that? 
 

$15 grand a year is nominal, and it's actually less than that when TXR gets to deduct improvement costs from the rent

sounds like TXR isn't interested in continuing their business or they're looking to negotiate a better deal, which seems unlikely considering how insignificant the rent is for the park 

Nominal?  Insignificant?  How do you know that?   Again are you in the know with the finances? 

Because you know, I can read with comprehension. The article above stated the terms. The park holds 1,000 people, one could cover the cost of rental from the city with one concert on the yard. The money drain is in the cost or renting and running the restaurant and Grate room. Most everyone familiar with the restaurant business knows it is hard work and expensive with razor this margins. Now with COVID the restaurant industry is in a precarious position at best and the same for indoor venues. Will they open? Will they stay open? Not to mention the building and property are in bad need of repairs that cos yet more money

Anyway, I talked to a guy I know that works with the owner of the property at Montecito plaza across the canal and his intel confirms the Old Seafood Peddler - currently our beloved TXR - is on the rental market.

Tough news Paul, but certainly not surprising.

All the best to everyone involved.

Anyone want to see my resume? It's short.

Deadhead

Contractor

Door Guy

A jeep dealership is apparently going into the location.

Phil doesn't own TXR? Never knew.

Nope, he wanted to buy it but the family that owns the TXR property owns the surrounding car dealerships too and didn't want to break it up,so it was leased. The ssame family has owned all that land since the 1950s....

Pete:

Longtime Deadhead

Superb Contractor

Best of the Best Door Guy

Maybe the business can be owned/sold separately from the property lease?

Bob still have a piece of The Sweetwater?  Phil could always do residencies there while Bob's out doing the rock star thing.

Thanks Andy.

The Infiniti dealership was a Jeep dealership years ago.

the best. appreciate all the hard work you did for us pete, much love and respect.

guess i better grab a ticket.

phil gonna have a last blowout?

stopped at sol on the way home from days between, sigh.

Phil gonna have a last blowout?

I sure hope so

People still buy Jeeps???

(I drove a Jeep truck for 18 years and loved it, I'm just being a wise guy)

This damned COVID has fucked everything up. One can still hope that the Leshes will carry on, but with the way things are continuing to go, it makes sense that they could be looking to call it a day.

I was hoping that Shapiro would eventually take the place over, as for better or worse that would have locked it in for the long hall and he would have kept it more or less the same.

One thing for sure, there's never been any place like it, and almost certainly there won't be again.

It isn't the best at what it does, it's the only place that does what it does.

Carry on.

It always seemed they had a slight identity problem -- was it a Marin hot spot for the cool rich folks or a community center for leftover Deadheads? When it was both, it was great for people watching. 

Whenever Phil was playing, it was certainly the place to be.

I think TxR jumped the shark when everyone got their own vape pens. Took the fun outta going out back and catching a buzz together (that was pre-covid times, of course).

Hey Woz, check it out. The Infiniti lot was in fact a jeep dealership. I used to have my jeep serviced there. One day it was just gone. I found this in my archives. I guess I kept it because of the picture.

the new jeep won truck of the year.

was at the beach last night, some out of state (kansas?), dude had one down there. large surf + extreme high tide was flooding the north part or the lot. many cars, including his brand new 50-60K jeep were getting splashed/swamped with salt water. guy was making a sandwich in the back, oblivious to the fact that his engine was probably being damaged...

I've enjoyed pretty much everything (except the restaurant some times) about TXR. Inside, outside, Zoners, other people, things, shows, so many wonderful musicians, so many wonderful shows, Phil's smile, even Phil's scowl, campfires, putting some of Greg's ashes with Mose's help into the canal, Pete, Lance, so many other people who work/ed there, and how comfortable I was with any people who were there except the fucking talkers. I spent a lot more time in Marin and the East Bay for a few years and TXR felt easy.

I don't know that it's dead yet, but since it sounds like it might be, that's a farewell report.

Closed March 2, 2007

>>> was it a Marin hot spot for the cool rich folks or a community center for leftover Deadheads<<<

It's been both of those, along with younger dead heads (both wook & non-wook) there to see Phil rock in a tiny room and dead head tourists coming to "Mecca" (and usually being disappointed with that).

Plus bluegrass, jazz or other non-GD music fans there for the band in the park or the bar, families with their kids picnicking & playing in the park (often with Phil playing on the park stage), just regular folks out for dinner or a drink, date nights and birthday parties, local curiosity seekers just because it's in the neighborhood, old fashioned bar hoppers getting hammered, etc.

All happening at the same time.

I can't think of one other place where all those varying people & events coming together simultaneously has ever existed before TxR.

It's always been a blast to be at the Grate Room doors when families with their kids leaving the park or folks coming out of the restaurant would ask, "Who's playing in there?" They would be told it's Phil Lesh from the Grateful Dead, and they'd say, "Oh, really? May I take a peek inside, just to see what it's like?"

And Pete would say, "NO FUCKING WAY!!! GET IN YOUR DAMNED TESLA AND HIT THE ROAD, FREELOADER!!!!!!!"

(Pete never said that)

I've always loved the blending of humanity, the crossing of cultures that has happened on a regular basis at that place.

And Judit, a painful but poignant memory of mine from TxR that will always remain with me was the time you were right next to me at a David Nelson Band show in the Grate Room, everyone having a raging, rollicking good time. We were right behind the side stage mixing area where (I can't remember his name but he was a zoner who taped/streamed DNB shows) had the zone up on his computer.

You looked at me, stricken, pointing to the screen and I laughed, thinking, "Get off the damned Philzone during a show!"

But you pointed again and I saw the thread, announcing that the wonderful zoner, DNB fan and all around great guy Eddieboy had suddenly passed away.

It was shocking and brutal news to get in the middle of a raging rock show where everyone was flying high, but when the news began to spread there could not have been a better place to be, a better group of people to be around.

I've had an amazing array of differing times and experiences in that place next to the canal, and I hope to have many more, but if not, I feel like I got a full, satisfying dose and have enough great memories to last me until I can't even remember how to tie my shoes.

And that's far out.

I always appreciated the bathrooms. Usually pretty clean. The solitary bathrooms were a real treat!

I hadn't thought of that in quite a while, Lance. That was Dan (Budboy)who was a close friend of Eddieboy's. So sad. Oh, that was a night from as you say, from flying to just hanging on by our fingers (and our friends' hugs) and Zoner love.

That's pretty ironic about the Infiniti dealership/Jeep connection. nice to see you on the front page of the IJ!

i hope it all stays in the phamily

(((((Us)))))

The Infinity dealership was owned by my friend Ronnie's dad; Ronnie worked there for him for many years.

They were car guys, not Dead Heads, so they were bemused but not psyched when Phil took over the place across the street,

and about the chaos that soon came. (Parking congestion, trash, disrespectful people, etc.)

He knew I worked there and had a lot of funny things to say about the whole situation. His father passed away and they sold the place.

    They were interesting times, just like now.

Because you know, I can read with comprehension. The article above stated the terms. The park holds 1,000 people,

I can read with comprehension too.  The article says nothing about the park holding a thousand people, and I didnt know that.

Paul, I don't think that's Pete there; pretty sure the guy in the GD sweatshirt is the owner/manager of the shop telling everyone they're out of a job.

So who is the landlord and owns the property?

when the place first opened I vowed I would never miss a Phil show there

Even with the 70 to 90 minute drive and sometimes $150 tickets

But phil wore me out after a couple of years and I couldn't even keep up the pace

I wouldn't be surprised if I've been there 250 to 300 times

Pure freaking magic beyond blessed to be a tiny cog in that giant wheel

keeps on turning 

Phil is not a young man but I would be surprised if he didn't have enough wherewithal to pony up and turn that plays into an ongoing national park/ museum

Hell people pay five to $7 million for a freaking guitar 

Any Zoners have $15,000,000 and two or 3 million a year for operating expenses and  hell of a lot of energy and gumption  for that matter love

11/11/11 at 11:11 that seafood peddler rocked 

To be honest it was a lot of effort to get them to honor two free tickets to a show for winning the costume contest on Halloween

you know me,me,me

Next up DNB. God still does exist

FYI I do call Phil god

or Proprietor

I thought it was Pete on the far right but on closer inspection it's not.

>>>but on closer inspection it's not<<<

Reading comprehension good, visual comprehension...

Not so good.

Ha! So true!

I think TxR jumped the shark when everyone got their own vape pens<<<

I always thought it was when the first hoodie was carefully placed on the floor ... "one small embroidered garment for the laundry, one giant leap for quasi GA property rights"

Hell people pay five to $7 million for a freaking guitar.  Any Zoners have $15,000,000 and two or 3 million a year for operating expenses and  hell of a lot of energy and gumption  for that matter love<<<<<

That's an interesting thought .... although suspect the dynamic might be akin to "collectors" who purchase paintings of the living vs. those who are no longer with us.

Run, run, run for the roses
Quicker it opens, the sooner it closes
Man, oh, man, oh, friend of mine
All good things in all good time

I'm feeling pretty emotional about this little clubhouse. 

I've been blessed to meet and know many wonderful people at TXR.   The place may have saved my life,  or at least my sanity, during challenging times. 

Lots of shows scheduled.  Think I'm going to take some time off on Wednesday to see Stu and friends (Fearsome Foursome) play Led Zeppelin. 

Both of my kids have fond memories and want to return to the park for at least one more show.  I'll try to figure it out. 

I treat every show like it  could be the last. 

Grateful for music and friends: past, present, and future. 

Can Phil et al lease the park from the city, but bail on the Crossroads landlord?

^^^Can Phil et al lease the park from the city, but bail on the Crossroads landlord?

Unfortunately no. Water, electricity, storage and more come from TXR.

Come on down tomorrow for Mustache Harbor it's going to be great (inserts finger down throat)!

^Made me spew out some coffee, Peak!

Dust off that rusty Lobster Tank just one more time...