Mallory Kauderer bought Churchill’s for $800,000 from its previous landlord, Dave Daniels, in 2014. Photo by Ian Witlen / TheCameraClicks.com ChurcChill’s End Have fate and acrimony closed the book on a beloved Little Haiti live-music institution? B Y FRANCIS C O AL V ARADO huck Loose, a 51-year-old punk rock drummer with a day job as a graphic designer, hasn’t set foot inside Churchill’s Pub in Little Haiti in nearly two years. The closest he’s come to the storied live-music venue is the gravel parking lot next door where one of his bands, Rat Sex, played a couple of impromptu shows last year put on by fellow punk rocker and underground music promoter Ray “Fang” Henry. “Fang set up a trailer in the parking lot and about 50 people came out,” Loose recalls. “It was fantastic. It was reminiscent of the early days of Churchill’s, when it was a lawless playground.” Loose is among former Churchill’s regulars coming to terms with the likelihood that the grungy watering hole where South Florida’s tiny rock music scene once thrived will not be making a comeback. “It’s over,” Loose says of the venue, which closed in March 2020 at the onset of the pandemic. “They might as well turn it into a Flanigan’s or some overpriced yuppie club.” Jason Handelsman, a guitar-playing performance art- ist, former Churchill’s promoter, and ex-Miami New Times contributor, shares Loose’s sentiments. “I’ve been expecting Churchill’s to be replaced by a Starbucks or a Chipotle,” Handelsman says. “It would be awesome if Churchill’s was still open. But life goes on.” Since Churchill’s management company District Live Agency was officially evicted last summer, the pub has remained shuttered despite attempts by property owner Mallory Kauderer to bring in a new tenant. And facing a wave of foreclosure lawsuits from a half-dozen lenders, including companies seeking to collect on delinquent loans secured by the Churchill’s property, Kauderer has put the building, its parking lot, and its liquor license on the market for $4.6 million. Kauderer retained commercial broker Arthur Porosoff, who is a member of the City of Miami Planning, Zoning and Appeals Board, to sell Churchill’s. Porosoff told Axios that his goal is to find a buyer who’ll keep Churchill’s a live-mu- sic venue: “No one’s turning it into LIV or anything fancy, it’s gonna be a grungy little fish-and-chips English bar where people can be themselves and have a good time,” he said. Still, there’s no guarantee the pub will remain intact under new ownership; it’s even possible the 76-year-old building will be leveled. (Over the summer, Kauderer de- molished a small house in the rear of the property the City of Miami deemed an unsafe structure two years ago.) The owner tells New Times he’s in negotiations with a prospective tenant who intends to reopen the pub. But he declined to provide any specifics, other than to say he hopes Churchill’s will be revived. “I want it to be Churchill’s,” Kauderer says. “I am hopeful that whoever goes in there will keep it as Churchill’s and as a live-music venue.” In a follow-up phone call, Kauderer insisted the >> p8 77 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NEWS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | miaminewtimes.com | CONTENTS | LETTERS | RIPTIDE | METRO | NIGHT+DAY | STAGE | ART | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | MIAMI NEW TIMES NEW TIMES MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 NOVEMBER 3-9, 2022
