Business Section, front page, left side column.
Local club under new ownership
Hakim Dwazi, Staff Writer
The Meeting Place, a hangout near Greenwich Village in Manhattan, has recently come under new ownership. After several recent incidents, former owner Jade Walker made the decision to sell the club, according to new owner Brigid O’Connell.
Walker had recently moved to New Zealand and was not available for comment.
O’Connell, the club’s new owner, released a brief press release regarding the change in ownership.
“It wasn’t an easy choice for [Walker], by any stretch of the imagination,” O’Connell said. “She’s had to relocate recently, though, and in the end it was the best choice to make, given the circumstances.”
The new proprietor of the alternatively quiet and popular nightclub is a reserve officer in the United States Navy and is a native of Chicago. She has lived in New York for the past several years and for the past year has run the offices located above the nightclub.
“The opportunity to buy the place was one I couldn’t pass up,” O’Connell admitted. “The building is in a good location, and the club’s regulars are great people. I’ve enjoyed working in the building and I think I’ll enjoy owning it just as much.”
There has been speculation recently about the survival of the club, given some particularly violent events in the club’s past, most recently the shooting of local businessman Weston Chandler.
“Security is going to tighten up, that’s for certain,” O’Connell told reporters who inquired about Chandler’s shooting. “It’s horrible what happened to Wes, and we’re going to cooperate however we can with authorities to figure out who did this and why.”
There will be little change in staffing at the club, which comes as no surprise. O’Connell has said that she will depend on them the same way Walker did during her tenure as owner of the club.
Longtime bartender and friend of both women, Gabriel Saint, said, “Rumours that the Brigid is a harsh and evil woman are true, but only if you have the misfortune to work for her so customers need not worry. That and she seems quite taken with the assortment of dangerous animals so there's no need to worry about the zoo moving any time soon. Which is good, I'd miss the Gila Monster. I call him Jaime.” Saint is near legendary for his strange sense of humor at the club, sources confirm.
O’Connell confirmed that not much will be changing at the club.
The Meeting Place is located at the corner of 3rd Avenue and 102nd Street. Last call is at 4 a.m. and doors open at 6 a.m. for dry breakfast. The club can be reached at 555-7437.