Bryn Mawr, PA’s The Point, whose weekly open mic I routinely referred to as the “open mic sweat shop,” is closing it’s doors on June 25th.
The Point – the cozy Bryn Mawr coffeehouse whose list of before-they-were-stars performers reads like a who’s who of music – plans to close after June 25’s show by Jim Boggia.
Owner Richard Kardon says that he wanted to upgrade the 115-seat venue and add a liquor license, but that he and landlord Steve Bajus couldn’t agree on a new deal for the space inside the Romanesque Revival building at 880 W. Lancaster Ave. Sticking point: terms of the lease, with regard to the license and its potential effects on the neighborhood.
Kardon opened the Point in October 1998, inspired by the Main Point, the pioneering coffeehouse two doors away from 1964 to 1981. The Main Point was an earlier showcase for such unknowns as Billy Joel, Bonnie Raitt and Bruce Springsteen. The Point, meanwhile, has been the first place many Philadelphians saw Vanessa Carlton, Norah Jones and Howie Day.