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Kenny's Castaways Spot Sought by Meatpacking District Restaurateur

The owner of a Meatpacking District restaurant has applied for a liquor license at 157 Bleecker St., where Kenny's Castaways is located, July 2012 records show.
The owner of a Meatpacking District restaurant has applied for a liquor license at 157 Bleecker St., where Kenny's Castaways is located, July 2012 records show.
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DNAinfo/Andrea Swalec

GREENWICH VILLAGE — The legendary Greenwich Village rock and folk venue Kenny's Castaways is up for rent — and may soon have a change to its classic tune.

Sergio Riva, the owner of a Meatpacking District restaurant, has applied for a new liquor license at the 157 Bleecker St. space Kenny's bar and club has occupied for 45 years, according to community board records. 

Riva or an "entity to be formed" is expected to lobby Community Board 2 for a full liquor license in Kenny's current space Tuesday, July 10, according to the board's website.

Riva is a partner in The Diner, located on Ninth Avenue at 14th Street, as well as in the Italian restaurant and wine bar Osteria Cotta, which is on Columbus Avenue near West 85th Street. 

Kenny's Castaways is full of memorabilia from its 45 years in operation.
Kenny's Castaways is full of memorabilia from its 45 years in operation.
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DNAinfo/Andrea Swalec

He did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

The late Patrick Kenny opened Kenny's in 1967, offering a stage for a bevy of now-famous artists including Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen, Jeff Buckley, Phish, Aerosmith and The Fugees. 

The real estate firm Walker Malloy & Company has listed the bar space, which has 2,500 square feet on the ground floor plus a 700-square-foot mezzanine, for $35,000 a month. 

The entire building Kenny's occupies, which has apartments on the second and third floors, was listed for sale in April for $6.6 million, but is no longer on the market, according to the property website StreetEasy.com. 

Kenny's family, which owns the building and took over the club after his death in 2002, did not return requests for comment about plans for the venue. 

Multiple bartenders at Kenny's said they had heard rumors about the club's closure for months and were seeking other jobs. They declined to provide their names for fear of losing their positions early. Kenny's website currently lists scheduled performances through July 12.

The location has a storied history.

As early as 1890, the Bleecker Street spot was home to The Slide, one of the city's first gay clubs, according to the book "All Around the Town: Amazing Manhattan Facts and Curiosities."

"The Slide, along with exotic Chinatown and the city's bordellos, became a late-night stop for urban sophisticates out 'slumming' in the 1890s," the book by Patrick Bunyan offers.  

Recent renovations to the club revealed it may also have operated as a brothel, according to Kenny's website. Workers found a warren of small rooms in the basement and written price information.