Kevin Saftner and Susan Coe, local music industry veterans, were riding a wave of success when (record scratch) Covid-19 hit and robbed them of their livelihoods.
Beginning on Aug. 5, it will be open daily to entertain a new generation of music lovers.
“It’s definitely going to have a similar vibe to James Street,” says Saftner, general manager of The Bridge and former co-owner of the now-defunct James Street Gastropub & Speakeasy on the North Side. “We could have three different events going on in three different places, from drag brunches and burlesque shows to jazz and punk music to a DJ.”
Coe, who ran Howlers in Bloomfield for nearly two decades, acquired the East Liberty property several years ago. She owns Peace, Love & Zen Wellness Center on the other side of Broad Street and, for years, watched the neighboring space sit dark and silent, waiting for the right occupant. When Howlers was forced to vacate its longtime Liberty Avenue home due to landlord issues, she thought about moving the popular music venue to East Liberty, but Covid crushed those plans.
The Bridge, which is a reference to Pittsburgh’s numerous spans as well as the musical passage that connects two sections of a song, is a fresh start for both Coe and Saftner. He moved to Reno, Nev., during the early days of the pandemic and met the woman of his dreams. He moved back to Pittsburgh with his new family several months ago.
The Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival, a production of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, returns…
GIVE A MAN A MASK, said author Oscar Wilde, and he’ll tell the truth. * In…
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT of financial planning for today’s arts and nonprofit organizations is The Benefit.…
“I had always planned to make a large painting of the early spring, when the…
“There are things that are not sayable. That’s why we have art.” — Leonora Carrington (“Britain’s…
“I paint the way some people write their autobiography. The paintings, finished or not, are…