Playa Cabana Bar closed already

[quote="J0518"]I disagree that we expected a bad place when Playa opened. I wanted Playa to succeed.


I wanted it to succeed as well. And I expected it to be pretty bad. Neither is mutually exclusive. To succeed, though, it helps to be good.

i have been trying to sell my husband on the "laundromat and ____" business model: laundromat and bar ... laundromat and coffee shop ... laundromat and bike rental place near the park ... laundromat and automat with wifi ... laundromat and ANYTHING that will get more income while people are trapped there watching their clothes. glad to hear i'm not the only one..

There are signs posted on it saying that it's guarded by security guards.

....you know that if you make this into a bar-laundry mat people would feel they have to dress up to do their laundry.

Isn't doing laundry one of the last times you can be grungy?

I'd hate for this to go away as well.

Jamzer wrote: Poor people that can't afford to outsource their laundry can't afford the expensive cocktails that would have to be sold to pay the rent on this location. It just won't work. Sorry;.

whoa -- i'm not poor, i just think it's stupid to throw away money for someone to do something i am capable of doing myself. paying by the pound is more expensive than doing it myself - so i go, bring a book or some papers to grade, and just do it. i go out for "expensive cocktails" because making a great drink isn't something i can do myself/will do myself because i don't have all ingredients, fresh, on hand. harsh.

Jamzer wrote: [Don't worry. This place is not turning into a bar/laundrymat. Poor people that can't afford to outsource their laundry can't afford the expensive cocktails that would have to be sold to pay the rent on this location. It just won't work. Sorry;.

I would assume that not-poor people also don't outsource their laundry, big spender.

I actually like the concept, even though I've got a washer/dryer. :-P

They forgot to mention Bibi's!

LadyLibertine wrote: Even CNN (!) says that spot is cursed!

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2009/smallbusiness/0910/gallery.best_places_cursed_locations.smb/5.html

(from FIPS)

I told you so! Even CNN agrees:

5 deadly spots

5 of 5

Dead zones: Bad spots or bad businesses?

230 Fifth Avenue Brooklyn, N.Y.

Currently: Playa and Cabana Bar

Past occupants: Lookout Hill Smokehouse (2008), Biscuit BBQ (2006 - 2008), Night & Day (2005-2006), Bibi's (2002-2003)

Here's a sign of how cursed Brooklyn's 230 Fifth Avenue is: Its current inhabitant died while we were reporting this piece.

RIP Playa: November 2008 - October 2009.

In the space of three years, two doomed barbecue joints, Biscuit BBQ and Lookout Hill Smokehouse -- which lasted a mere four months -- came and went before Spencer Rothschild took a stab at running a restaurant at 230 Fifth Avenue, the main drag in the borough's posh Park Slope neighborhood. Rothschild is an experienced New York restaurateur: His other ventures include Barrio, also in Brooklyn, and Calle Ocho in Manhattan's Upper West Side.

But his Latin fusion Playa and Cabana Bar lasted less than a year.

"We want to create a pan-Latin beach resort feeling," Rothschild told the Brooklyn Paper in November when the restaurant made its debut. "People will be able to get drinks at Cabana Bar, and then go over to Playa for seafood."

Area foodies openly wondered whether Rothschild would be able to break the curse. But it wasn't meant to be. Brooklyn blog Brownstoner quotes a source "close to the restaurant" who says that Playa closed after a dispute between its operating partners left the restaurant without a liquor license. In the cut-throat Brooklyn restaurant world, no booze means no profit.

Rothschild was mum on why Playa was shuttered, but his response to our inquires lends credence to Brownstoner's tipster. "With the recent closure of Playa, my schedule has been crazy," he said by e-mail. "I really do not have much to add to the few pieces that have been out there, just most importantly that I hope to re-open soon."

Whether Rothschild succeeds in resurrecting Playa or some other entrepreneur takes over the hard-luck space, expect bloggers to weigh in fast with Dead Pool bets on how fleeting the new venture will be. -Jennifer Lawinski