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Open since 2000, Hollywood Boulevard's music venue The Knitting Factory announced yesterday that they will not renew their lease for the site, which ends on October 31st of this year, reports the LA Times music blog Pop & Hiss.The all-ages venue has had trouble with permits in recent years, which is partly what is prompting company CEO Morgan Margolis to opt to pack up and leave the location altogether. Margolis explains, however, that just because the Hollywood spot is due to close, they aren't leaving L.A.:
“I’ve been looking two years now for the right space. I’m looking all over -- downtown, Silver Lake, Los Feliz, North Hollywood, Studio City. I’ve looked as far as Alhambra. I don’t want the community to think that the Knitting Factory is done in Los Angeles. I’m looking, and have a couple deals on the table. If one of these goes through, there may be a full-on lateral move and no shutdown. It may just be a week or two changeover. Or it could be a year.”
The space where the Knitting Factory is--and the entire area--has undergone major changes in the past decade. 7201 Hollywood Boulevard, where the venue is, used to be home to a music store, a movie theatre, and the Hollywood Entertainment Musuem, but now its got a drug store, a gym, and a Fresh & Easy grocery store. The mini-mall-esque space pre-dates the Hollywood & Highland mall and attractions, which has also seen changes: "Earlier this summer, Virgin closed its last remaining Virgin Megastore in Los Angeles, which was a short walk from the Knitting Factory (a Hard Rock Cafe will move in to the Virgin Megastore space)."For now, Margolis is cutting his losses, and moving away from the "nightmare" of the Hollywood corridor-area.
