this sucks. where will we get fried mushrooms now besides kidd valley?

what place will I be mad at for being closed at nights for dumb shows?

Will the last club closing in Seattle please turn off the lights?

Much more to the point, what will happen to all that old Trader Vics furniture?

RIP Croc.

Condo-iamo, condo-iamo ne lieti calici,
Che la belleza infiora....

Sad. The Croc had the best sound in the city. It will be missed.

I blame Josh Feit and ECB.

Mr Poe, LOL! ;)

But perhaps let's blame some ex-republican in the 41st district or gawd nose wwwear. It's these people who are the evilnesnesness ad nauseum ad addendum nauseaof this city. It's all their fault!

But you've got the ideas. keep the grave alive!

Don't ever wash your neck.

Oh my, we know the same Marcia Brady/Davy Jones cheek episode. Ok, enough, TMI!!!! F -off and Die! ;)

I bet Mars Hill bought it

Z cars! Cars! Mars Hill! Buying shit! Mars Hill should buy Club Lagoon. Wouldn't that fuckin' rock?! Holy water for everyone! Bwaaanananan!

I'm rooting for another Taco Bell. We can never have enough Taco Bells. I only like places that have Taco Bell.

so when are we gonna find out the real reason it closed?

It seems that for every cool place that gets torn down, we get like 5 shitty places bourgie places that suck ass.

How many yuppies and wannabe yuppies from Montana or Idaho have to move here before it becomes completely unlivable?

The problems with the Crocodile have been well documented on Line Out for the past month or so.

In the meantime, we have gained The Triple Door, which is my favorite new venue in downtown.

I have great memories of The Crocodile, no doubt, but I have even greater memories of I-Spy, Gibson's, Second Avenue Pizza, and Fallout Records. Yet no one really cried when those places disappeared. (In fact, I think The Stranger made fun of Fallout Records upon its demise.)

Anyway, the loss of The Croc is sad, but Seattle is still doing much better in the music venue department per capita than most cities.

Yeah, that's it, it's yuppies from Montana and Idaho that are the real problem in Seattle. Thanks for nailing that Andrew.

mackro mackro, most cities? beating out cleveland or pittsburg isn't that amazing.

Andrew, you should go to Idaho and Montana and ask the locals what they think of yuppies from Seattle, Portland and LA moving into their vanity mini-ranch subdivisions.

Whatever, Shorty's is the heart of cool Belltown anyway. Go the the Jewel Box instead.

haha, I think my comment got deleted.

Tacoma is behind this!

I'm not one to laugh at people when they are down. So I won't.

I was drunk and I deleted my own comment.
Thank God.

what is this "Triple Door" you speak of? is it a new venue that has just opened recently?

@3: you read my mind.

sad, but totally unsurprising news. i will miss that room, for sure. shame on you, stephanie. you might be tired of it, but your employees and patrons are not.

Prepare yourself, Seattle, for another long set of articles full of people expressing their sadness/anger at the disappearance of another great Seattle bar/cafe/venue, with ABSOLUTELY NO DICUSSION ON THE CAUSES, AND NO ATTEMPT TO TAKE ACTION WITH REMEDIES.

Those who love the Crocodile could easily pool together money and buy the place, making it a live music coop. It's been done. It does work. But it requires action. Put your money where your mouth is, or keep your mouth shut.

"How many yuppies and wannabe yuppies from Montana or Idaho have to move here before it becomes completely unlivable?"

Well, this is a first. I've heard the evil Californians blamed a million times for all sorts of things, but never the Montanans or Idahoans. It sounds like someone might have one of those "Native Washingtonian" license plate frames.....

I blame the liberal media.

And China.

And the electoral college.

Played some amazing shows there. Saw some amazing shows there. Kissed my (now) wife the first time there and even had a wedding (of sorts) there.

RIP Croc.

Now I don't have any reason to visit Belltown.

@24

Fine. Fuck Crocodile. And fuck you.

There are so many good times to remember at the Croc.

Best to Jim the Sound Guy, an amazing talent who cared about doing the best job possible, and all the others who have cared for and maintained a business that until recently had pretty much absentee ownership.

And I read the post below about I Heart Rummage, and realize how just many people are getting shafted in the middle of the holidays by a spoiled, and capricious, club owner.

RIP, and here's to all the insane good times of the last 20-odd years.

I know change is scary, but you have to be strong. It might sound easier to cling to the past and try to keep old places like the Croc on life support, but that is actually much harder than facing the future.

If you decide that you can no longer take seeing your favorite things in Seattle die and be replaced by something unfamiliar, consider a small town. Perhaps a less dynamic environment would suit you better. And there's nothing wrong with people who like small towns. To each his own, right?

Bellevue Ave: I'm saying Seattle has more interesting live music venues *per capita* than most cities. Yes, more per capita than New York City or Los Angeles.

The "per capita" clause is very important, I believe, as it shows there's a relatively large amount of people in the city that live here partially because there are many options for shows here. Seattle may not be able to host as many obscure shows as the big cities in America occasionally do, but on average, every anticipated rock/dance/pop culture show that happens in NYC, L.A., Chicago, etc. will have a show here and in Portland. (Sometimes in Vancouver if the touring band has a permit to perform in Canada.)

Not too long ago, the PacNW just flyover zone for bands. Now it's a destination.

Maybe you can thank the weed quality here? Or maybe bands just like to visit here!

Anyway, again, I'm not trying to remove the underscore of the loss of The Crocodile. I'm just stating that Seattle isn't hopeless after the loss of the Crocodile. I hope all the talent from the Croc will be used elsewhere in the city. The folks behind nightlife in this city have a very good track record of shifting around talent where it's best needed. I haven't seen this level of coordination in bigger cities, that's for sure.

actually the fact that many venues are shutting down might show that there are too many venues per capita to be sustainable for the community.

And while I'm not as angry as Sarah Cassidy nor am I necessarily thinking The Stranger will ignore The Croc's recent problems should there be a piece about its loss, I don't blame her for thinking of that possibility.

Bellevue@33: If there are too many venues for the city, then naturally those who don't do as well will be the first to go.

But there are other factors. Again, many are conveniently ignoring other major problems The Croc had in order to construct a narrative that "The Seattle music scene is dying", which I believe is bullshit, sorry.

I do see some trimming happening, which is cause for alarm, but for every Crocodile that gets lost, at least one or two other venues have stepped up to the game. Examples: The Triple Door, Nectar Lounge now using former Chop Suey booker Colin Johnson, who has made that place a destination more than ever.

What should be more alarming is that there are less all-ages places than there were before. That deserves an article moreso than the loss of the Crocodile in my opinion.

I apologize if I'm not pouring tears for the loss of The Croc or if I'm not seeing it as a sign of extinction. There have been known issues and several rumors of mismanagement there. If you want to continue ringing the bells of the nightlife apocalypse in Seattle, maybe one should focus his or her efforts on future legislature that could have a universal effect on Seattle nightlife instead of focusing on the loss of just one venue that had a recent and documented history of issues.

"a spoiled, and capricious, club owner" -- since it's not YOUR money that's been pissing down that drain, it seems a little bit much to suggest that she should have carried on pissing it away any longer. The Croc was, reportedly, losing money for several years. How much money? None of my business, but nightclubs aren't charities.

Maybe she couldn't afford it. Maybe she didn't want to do it anymore after all these years. How long do you think you DESERVE to get this nightclub at someone else's expense?

Maybe indie rock isn't as important as it used to be. The Croc's glory days were many years ago. People obviously didn't care about the bands that have been playing there, because they weren't going to the shows. The kids have other places they'd rather go, and the old farts do too -- the comments about the Triple Door are quite revealing, as that posh spot serves a completely different upscale function in the market.

I'm sorry to see the Croc close, but I don't see anything to be angry about. Time passes, things change. There are other clubs.

Fnarf speaks truth. Owning a club isn't a public service.

Well, in a sense it is. And the way the public supports it is by paying to get in. But ask yourself: did you go to as many shows at the Crocodile this year as you did in 1994, or 1999, or 2002? It's fun and all to start talking about "collectives" and how ridiculously "easy" it is to make a fortune in the nightclub game, but this isn't your dorm room. The people of Seattle ALREADY DID put their money where their mouth was. It wasn't enough.

Was the Croc sprinklered?

The cost of the new requirements (and no, not sure when they're mandatory) are going to be the death knell of any club that's even remotely marginal.

Ah, I know what killed it: It was those Best Buy commercials from the 90s telling everyone how they could experience "The Seattle Sound."

I am getting tired of all you white nerds. Who made it cool to wear glasses with plastic rims?

Elvis Costello?

Ooh, good point, Nap. (Can I call you Nap?) But I vaguely recall seeing sprinkler heads in there.

I'm not sure whether it was sprinklered or not.

But any place that isn't 1) already sprinklered; 2) fantastically successful; or 3) on a very, very long term lease is probably on its way out.

No one is going to pay the $50 - 75 thousand to make improvements for their landlord on a building that's ultimately going torn down for more condoze.

Well, there won't be any new condo construction projects in that neighborhood for another decade or so, judging from what's happening to the ones in progress. I think the building's safe for now.

napoleon is a day late on the whole "condo building craze". napoleon, a housing and general recession is in the works. condos aren't going to take over seattle like the chicken littles are claiming because there simply isn't as much of an incentive or buyers now.

The condo craze may or may not be over--a lot of the planning/ permitting/evicting gets done far in advance of the market tanking.

The point remains--a club faced with $50 - 75,000 in renovations that ultimately benefit the landlord isn't going to want to make them unless on a very long term lease.

I hope the Crocodile finds a new owner. Chances are, even if it doesn't become a condo, it'll end up a high end retail bathroom-fixture shop, salon, whatever...

We're gonna need those high-end bathroom-fixtures for our new condos.

@36 I'm not speaking in generalities, Fnarf, I'm speaking with some knowledge of the actual, particular situation down there. I strongly suspect she could have afforded to see out her commitments for the month without losing the farm.

And it sucks to lose your job the week before Christmas, no matter the particulars.

If it *was* solely being held together as a labor of love, nothing kills that buzz like publicly excoriating its owner as spoiled, capricious, etc....

Um, I'd like to thank Stephanie for supplying me and my friends with a club. When she opened the Crocodile, there weren't enough venues and her place took off. Then came a gazillion shows that put Seattle on the map and probably led fairly directly to the fear-inducing condos of today. Many of us came here via Walla Walla in the early '80s and we felt like our friend Stephanie set us up with party central. I'm going to find it difficult to criticize her, but easy to admire what she created. Cheers to Betsy and the Croc.