David Kaplan
Talk About An Open and Shut Case! Death & Co. Sues Landlord for Doorman Fees
An ongoing dispute with an upstairs neighbor continues to create more legal headaches for David Kaplan, proprietor of the popular yet embattled East Village cocktail lounge Death & Co.
Mr. Kaplan, who is also suing the State Liquor Authority over its decision to not renew his liquor license, has now filed for a court injunction barring landlord P.V.P. Management from evicting his bar, located at 433 East Sixth Street, over alleged noise issues.
The tenant living directly above the bar, identified in court papers as Joseph Hurley, has claimed that "repeated and forcible closing of the [bar's] front door ... causes a severe and unreasonable amount of vibration" in his apartment. read more »
Death & Co. Puts Liquor-License 'McCarthyism' On Trial
David Kaplan, owner of embattled East Village cocktail cathedral Death & Co., is suing the State Liquor Authority (S.L.A.) over its refusal to renew his liquor license.
Mr. Kaplan had formally requested a reconsideration of that potentially business-killing decision this past February—a request the S.L.A. has since denied.
In court papers, Mr. Kaplan and his attorney have argued that the proprietors “never defrauded nor made misrepresentations” to the S.L.A.—despite what some critics in the neighborhood have alleged. read more »
Why Bar Owners Cringe At the Word 'Bar'
Death & Co. co-owner David Kaplan contacted me to express a few concerns about today's Observer article on him and his ongoing liquor-license saga. (Read it here.)
One of his complaints involves my use of the term "bar" to describe his business.
He prefers the term "restaurant lounge," partly because it's more accurate but, perhaps more importantly, also because saying otherwise has the potential to worsen his plight. read more »
Bar Upstart: Death to Liquor-License ‘McCarthyism!’
David Kaplan was delighted to open his “dream destination” on East Sixth Street. But never again!
“I’ll never open another bar, another restaurant, a deli, a fucking bodega—I’ll never open up anything ever again in New York,” he said. “It’s awful.”
Typically more of a “no worries” kind of guy, Mr. Kaplan has become rather jaded since first setting out to open a restaurant with an “old-world sort of feel, that sense of permanence,” as he put it, a place that “doesn’t look new” but “looks elegant, classic, comfortable.” read more »
