The Club That Wrote The Book On Music Is Now A Book

“Who did you see at the Bottom Line?”

Ask anyone of a certain age, and they’ll reel off a litany of names from Leo Sayer and Bruce Springsteen to Billy Joel and Neil Young.

For Arlene Gaeta, it was Dr. John. “I was 20. My friends and I were major fans, and we saw that he was playing the first show at this new club. We came back so many times.”

Straus Media, along with others like Gaeta, who have fond memories of New York’s famed music club, was invited to the Jefferson Market Library to celebrate the new book, Positively Fourth and Mercer: The Inside Story of New York’s Iconic Music Club, The Bottom Line. (The title is a play off the Bob Dylan song “Positively Fourth Street.”)

It’s co-authored by Allan Pepper, who opened the Greenwich Village haunt in 1974, with Stanley Snadowsky, his childhood friend from Brooklyn and fellow music promoter, and Billy Altman, Grammy-nominated music journalist, critic, and historian whose work has appeared in major publications. He is a longstanding faculty member at the School of Visual Arts, where he teaches courses in rock, jazz, and folk music as well as non-fiction writing.

At the library event, Altman was in conversation with Andrew Berman, the Executive Director of Village Preservation, which works to preserve the essence of Greenwich Village, the East Village, and NoHo.

“The Bottom Line book was done as an oral history,” Altman told a packed house. For research, he spoke to over 100 people: “Performers, those who worked at the club, managers, agents–we have a breadth of voices. My job, of course, was to put this all together in a fashion that would be entertaining for people to read.”

Altman then explained why he wanted to participate in documenting the history of the club, because he had an affinity for the place. “I moved back to New York after graduating from the University of Buffalo. I was seriously pursuing a career as a music journalist and began to go into the club. My first show was Tanya Tucker. My next one was Suzi Quatro, and the New York Dolls months later.”

In 2021, when Pepper wanted to do a book, it was no surprise he turned to the now seasoned and prize-winning writer. Said Altman: “The Bottom Line was so unique. When Allan suggested I go around, talk about music, about this city, the neighborhood, and about the business side, it just seemed like such great material was out there.”

When Berman asked what shaped this incredible place for 30 years, Altman cited the bond of the two owners. “They made a very interesting friendship.”

Pepper got the idea for the club but had absolutely no money. Snadowsky was working “and saw the passion and had belief in Allan.” Because of that, “Stanley said, ‘All right, let’s give it a go.’”

They finally found a space owned by NYU and were offered a 10-year lease. They just couldn’t agree on a name. According to Altman: “Alan said to Stanly, ‘What’s the expression that people in our business use more than any other one?’ Without missing a beat, he said, ‘The bottom line.’ Allan said, ‘Stanley, that’s the name.’ Stanley started repeating it like he was tasting a fine wine.”

In terms of the formality of the place, said Altman, “the two guys welcomed you in every single night at the door.” Once inside, the audience could see comedy, listen to folk, rock, jazz, and country, alongside songwriters, DJs, and musicians. “Betty Buckley would perform her theater numbers when she wasn’t on Broadway.”

After an hour-plus conversation, Berman jumped to the end of the book and asked about the literal end of The Bottom Line. Altman explained that 9/11 kicked things off.

“Allan and Stanley lost a lot of business. Even after people started going to shows again, they did not want to go downtown. [Pepper and Snadowsky] started to fall behind on bills. For most of the club’s history, NYU was a supporter, but all of a sudden, [the club’s owners] started to get eviction notices. There was a protracted battle with the landlord. [Pepper and Snadowsky] raised more than enough money to pay [what they owed].” But to no avail.

“One of the great ironies is that when The Bottom Line first opened, NYU started using it in their bulletins and promotional literature as ‘We have a first-class scene,’ and then at the very end, they’re kicking them out.”

Aside from economic changes, the music business changed. Altman pointed out, “Musicians can’t sell their music anymore; no one’s buying CDs or albums, they’re streaming. Most musicians make their money playing live and selling merch.”

In a post-event interview, when asked where this book stands in the hierarchy of his canon of work, Altman told Straus Media exclusively, “Oh, that’s hard to say. I’m a journalist, so my work is in newspapers and magazines. It was nice to be able to tell a story in a longer format. Allan is really happy with how the book turned out, and I’m really proud of it.”

In January of 2004, The Bottom Line closed just a week shy of its 30th anniversary.

Throughout its fabled history, the club remained true to its co-founders’ original vision: present entertainers in an intimate setting where the focus would always be on what transpired onstage.

Lorraine Duffy Merkl, a frequent literary and entertainment contributor to Straus Media, is the author of the novel, “The Last Single Woman in New York City.”