EAST VILLAGE — Lit Lounge is closing after 14 years because of the “new East Village crowd and the flight of the creative types to creative Brooklyn,” according to reports.
Owners Erik Foss and David Schwartz told Club Planet — which describes itself as an event, music and nightlife directory — that it would close the Second Avenue dive and adjoining gallery within two months and reopen a new Lit Lounge in Brooklyn.
“It was inevitable,” Foss said in the interview published online on July 8. "NYC is an ever changing animal. I’m just glad that I got to be here before downtown changed into what it is now.”
The owners did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Lit Lounge was known for its dark, gritty atmosphere, which drew celebrities like Jimmy Fallon, Kirsten Dunst, The Strokes and Chloe Sevigny, they said in the interview.
Foss and Schwartz told Club Planet they plan to open a new Lit Lounge in the basement of Currant Café in East Williamsburg, which they opened more than a year ago.
The new space will include two rooms with 17-foot ceilings, a DJ booth, bar and bathrooms, the owners said. Construction in the new space, at 248 McKibbon St., is complete but the opening is pending city approval.
“Lit Bk could open next week or in 3 months, it’s really a mystery as we have no real control over this last step,” said Foss, who added that Trash Bar founder Aaron Pierce would also be part of the new location.
