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Blend plays the last dance
Blend plays the last dance
July 26,2012
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ , Rumors of its impending demise have been circulating for months, so when Blend on Chestnut St. in Ridgewood closed abruptly on Tuesday no one was particularly surprised. While the landlord Ed Sullivan. told the Patch that ,”negotiations to transfer the liquor license did not materialize. ”
This was the second attempt at Blend. The first closed in 2008 after its owner filed for bankruptcy. Sullivan claimed , his business partner, Zvia Barlev, and two others were looking to gain full control of the revived nightclub and had been negotiating for the liquor license for some time.
After the first closing ,Blend went under significant renovations and was reopened in 2009 with Barlev manning daily operations and Sullivan controlling liquor license. The partnership seemed to outsiders as a recipe for disaster from the beginning .
Blend was always an “almost venue” never quite getting the right mix of music and patrons .It became known more for Bad music , “desperate house wives types”, over priced drinks while not enough parking that seem to doom the ill fated venture from the very beginning.
The place simply attracted to many suburban 30-50 year olds ,making it highly unattractive for trendy 20 something club goers.
Blend’s demise is just one more blow to the revitalization and urbanization efforts of Ridgewood ‘s Central Business District , and seems to shoot down the theory that Ridgewood can be turned into another Hoboken .
Now Ed Sullivan is moving on to another project. (2 Parking Garages) With the help of the newly elected Council especially the Mayor . It is no secret that Ed and many members of the Chamber supported Paul A for his re-election . You remember ( The Chamber is not endorsing any candidate) And the Chamber President displaying a elect Paul A sign in one of his vacant story window in the CBD. Well its payback time folks. And we are the ones that are going to pay. Don’t worry Ridgewood is the new Hoboken with two big parking garage and three large housing project in the CBD Be careful what you wish for.