Probably should have seen this coming back in July, when Tanna Gilder e-mailed Unfair Park with the assurance that, look, Bar of Soap isn't closed -- even though, yeah, there were some issues that needed to be hashed out with the landlord and so forth. And only last week Charlie Gilder told Jesse Hughey that, yeah, look, there are unpaid taxes and the place is closed for a little while, but, look, the venerable Expo Park laundromat-music venue will open again.
Well, yeah, not so much.
Moments ago, Mark Carter of Madison Partners, the Gilders' longtime landlord, confirmed that, yup, he's changed the locks. Did it on Tuesday, matter of fact, he says -- after he couldn't get in touch with the Gilders and popped by the Bar of Soap and found it more or less "cleaned out." Says Carter: "Charlie closed himself up, not the landlord. And it's a shame. It's gone, unless some miracle happens. But we had to secure it and be sure it wasn't going to be vandalized. And it's too bad: It was quite an institution, and Charlie's the last punk rocker. It was a cool place. This one's like a bolt out of the blue."
Carter hasn't spoken with the Gilders, and we haven't had much luck either. Alas, it was one hell of a place -- many great memories (including this one), most of which we'll never quite remember. It will be missed. --Robert Wilonsky
