Is the gorgeous space at 44 Wilson Ave cursed? Already the second business in the premises in the past 12 months is saying an abrupt goodbye. Previously Bushwick Coffee House, the space housed a cafe for less than a year. Now its successor, Morgan Town bar, which was in operation since February 2014 closed as well.
So what really happened? Was it a curse? Or simply a bad karma associated with the name of the place and the fact that they were not even located in Morgantown? We are unsure but one of the owners and the bar manager, Don Portolese sent out an email announcement to his contacts earlier today. “I am truly bummed to have to inform you of this, but Morgan Town is officially closed for good,” he wrote. “It has been a long hard struggle with my partner over the last 4 months,” he continued to explain troubles with his partner, which culminated into several problems in the establishment including a power shutdown. Yeah, that’s not very good for a bar. And while we don’t know exact facts of the dispute (and honestly we kind of don’t even want to go there), we know that in business, partnerships are the hardest part, and it is a story that has been told by entrepreneurial mankind one million times. Yes, it is hard to find good people to do business with! It’s like marriage, if not harder!
Here read the full wording Don’s email, and feel free to discuss in the comments section!
Hello Everyone,
Don here from what was once Morgan Town. I am truly bummed to have to inform you of this, but Morgan Town is officially closed for good. It has been a long hard struggle with my partner over the last 4 months. He seemed to think that it wasn’t necessary to pay things like bills and let them go until the point that ConEd came to turn off the power. This was the culmination of many idiotic moves on his part which have made my life a living hell and hampered my attempts at building the business and making it successful for everyone involved.
When I say everyone, I mean all of you who were so supportive and made the bar into a unique place with a great vibe. We hadn’t reached our full stride and certainly had a lot of kinks to work out, but we were certainly on our way, and that was thanks to all of you, your suggestions and your support.
Before I depart, there are few messages I would like to pass along:
I would like thank all of the artists that performed at Morgan Town and to sincerely apologize to all of the artists that were booked for the upcoming weeks. We had a great run with our UnCut Comedy on Tuesday nights. I would really like to thank Leon, Chenoa, and Noah for their hard work in putting that together. I would also like to thank Emily Rupp for hosting our Open Mic on Wednesdays. Lastly, I would like to thank all of the djs and musicians that were lined up for Bushwick Open Studios and beyond. As a fellow musician, it breaks my heart to have to cancel some really wonderful acts. I really appreciate all of the hard work you put into those events. I also appreciate all of the art that people put on our walls. I have done my best to get everything out of the bar that I could. You can write me to get them back.
I would also like to thank Fred, Leon, Lily and Violetta for being such wonderful bartenders and making our customers feel welcome and happy to be there. You guys of anyone knew how topsy turvy it was to work there not knowing if they were going to turn the lights off or if you would have a job the following week. I really appreciate your patience and your hard work. I only wish we could continue just as things were beginning to blossom.
I would also like to let you know that I do have a great business plan as well as a lot of equipment, a mailing list of 400 people, domain name, LLC, etc. for Morgan Town in the event that someone is interested in opening Morgan Town in another location. It would be great to keep it alive while it has momentum. If you know anyone interested, please let me know.
If nothing pans out with that, I would like to ask a favor of all of you. Out of respect for the memory of the bar, I ask that you never set foot in any new bar that opens at 44 Wilson Avenue. There is no doubt that my ex-partner is involved in that business and he is simply a bad person. He is truly one of the biggest and most unscrupulous scallywags on the face of the Earth. I don’t want him to be able to capitalize on any of my hard work and I certainly don’t want you to have a bad experience. Any of you who were in the bar when it was the Bushwick Coffee House, know what I am talking about. Please tell your friends as well.
Lastly, I plan on having a benefit in the very near future to see all of you again and to try to recoup some of my losses after losing my shirt through investing in the bar. The plan is to charge everyone around $20 per person and they can have all they can drink. Goodness knows I have a shit ton of booze that I absconded with from the bar. I would rather share it with all of you than drink myself into oblivion this summer.
The benefit will be on a Saturday sometime in June. I still haven’t found a place to hold it. If anyone knows of a warehouse space, backyard, rooftop, etc. where we could hold it, please let me know.I will keep all of you posted to let you know where and when we plan on having it.
Well, that’s all for now. Once again, my apologies for our abrupt closure, but it simply couldn’t go any further. I wish you all the best and look forward to seeing you at the benefit and in the future.
Take care,
Don Portolese