I got an e-mail from a friend, written by the current owners of The Raven in New Hope... read on...

Dear Friends:
> It is hard to believe that it has been four years since we
> introduced
> ourselves as the new owner's of The Raven, and what an amazing
> journey it has been.
> We feel lucky to be a part of The Raven's colorful history and we
> greatly
> appreciate all of your support over the years. Due to some
> unfortunate life
> circumstances, however, we have made the very difficult decision to
> step away
> from The Raven in order to focus our time and energies on various
> projects and
> ourselves.
> After years of renovation and constant community outreach, we are
> confident
> that we have built a strong business that will continue to thrive
> under the
> right leadership. Our hope is that a potential successor will come
> forward
> over the next two months and enable the long tradition of The Raven
> to continue
> for many years to come.
> As you, our loyal customers, have been so brilliant at spreading the
> word
> about everything we have done throughout the years, we thought it
> best to start
> this process with you. New ownership of The Raven could work via a
> lease of
> the business or a full sale of the property. If neither of these
> occurs,
> however, we will be closing the doors to The Raven early this summer
> season.
> As many of you know, we have been spending a great deal of time and
> efforts
> at our newest New Hope venture, The Nevermore Hotel. We have greatly
> enjoyed
> these past months as this endeavor has surpassed our expectations
> and we will
> continue to stay involved in this wonderful property that will
> undoubtedly
> be a great asset for not only the community of New Hope but reaching
> far
> beyond.
> We hope that you will understand this difficult decision we have
> made and
> know just how much The Raven has meant to both of us over these past
> four
> years. From pool shows, wine dinners, holiday festivities and
> countless charitable
> initiatives that have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for
> important
> causes, the memories and friendships we have built will stay with us
> forever.
>
> Lots of Love,
> Rand & Terrence - Raven Owners
email: _info@theravenresort.com_ (mailto:info@theravenresort.com)
> phone: 215.862.2081
> web: _http://www.theravenresort.com_

__________________
"Accept the fact that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue"

NE19149:

That sucks. That place wasn't half bad. Wonder if anyone will buy it.

__________________
You can never have enough check cashing, wig shops, nail salons, hair braiding, cell phone, gold plated jewelry and sneaker stores in Philadelphia!!!

Take a stand. Today, I will do better.
http://www.hotghettomess.com/

I'm hoping the owners pull off a sale or lease before that happens.

The Raven is a New Hope institution, and there's no place like it anywhere else in the region.

__________________
Sandy Smith, Exile on Market Street, Philadelphia
“Basically I figure guns are like gays: They seem a lot more sinister and threatening until you get to know a few; and once you have one in the house, you can get downright defensive about them.” --Theresa Neilson Hayden

I hope so too! It's got to take a helluvalot of money to run that place though. Insurance on a hotel/bar/club/pool complex. It's like running a small amusement park that serves booze. It's a big project to tackle.

__________________
The idealistic are no longer concerned with influencing public opinion and creating a free world of responsible and ethical social choices, but rather imposing opinion through legislation, mandating these ethics, and outlawing choice in what the loudest sample finds offensive.

Ban the Bans. It's a slippery slope between Idealism and Fascism.

To add to my earlier posting:

I spoke with a friend of mine in New Hope, who just happens to be the realtor handling the Raven.
Apparently Rand, one of the owners, has pancreatic cancer.
Hopefully, some old rich queen with nothing better to do will step in to keep the "ole gurl" running.
Jeez, that almost sounds like a movie plot or a gay novel.

__________________
"Accept the fact that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue"

The biggest expenses I would imagine for The Raven is payroll, liquor purchases to the state, electricity (all the refrigeration required), then insurance for the business and the building and property taxes (Bucks Co isn't cheap).

Anybody taking over the business outright would want to look at the last 5 years of balance sheets and income statements on the business. An investor that just wants the building would just care about the purchase price and how much it will cost to insure the spot.

Property insurance has to cost more in New Hope thanks to it being right on the Delaware.

__________________
You can never have enough check cashing, wig shops, nail salons, hair braiding, cell phone, gold plated jewelry and sneaker stores in Philadelphia!!!

Take a stand. Today, I will do better.
http://www.hotghettomess.com/

As the Raven is about a mile west of and 50 or so feet above the Delaware's banks, it doesn't have to worry about flood insurance, which is the only difference between property "right on the Delaware" and anything out of the floodplain.

I think that property in New Hope is pretty expensive, period, that that would drive the higher insurance premiums more.

__________________
Sandy Smith, Exile on Market Street, Philadelphia
“Basically I figure guns are like gays: They seem a lot more sinister and threatening until you get to know a few; and once you have one in the house, you can get downright defensive about them.” --Theresa Neilson Hayden

I have to say the worst gay bar in Philadelphia is Sisters.

I have to get this off my chest -- Here are my reasons:

• Does this place even like lesbians? They're not nice to lesbians and they sure as hell make it impossible to like this place. The whole atmosphere is depressing.

• Most of the staff are rude (most not all).

• They almost always charge a cover...and you get in there and there's only six people at the bar and no one upstairs. No other gay bar charges a cover except them. Pure is a private club so I'm not including them.

• Thursday Nights: the only busy night here. You get ten free drink tickets for a ten dollar cover. The place is so packed it takes 25 minutes to order drinks and 15 minutes for them to make the drinks. When you want to order more than one drink at a time they tell you you have to be with the other person when ordering -- it's the law. (However, I can order a round of drinks all by myself on any other night and no one says balls to me about the law.) The drink special ends at 11 and I've still got 8 drink tickets left that I can't use again. Why not just give two or three drink tickets instead of 10? It would be more honest and seem like less of a scam.

• When Chelsea Clinton made her stop at Sisters, some of the staff was trying to get in and the woman at the door would not let them in without paying a cover!! We were standing right behind her and she was showing all her credentials needed to prove she was part of the campaign staff going around with Chelsea, and still they wanted their cover charge.

• We went last night and six men in their 40's wanted to get in but they didn't want to pay a cover. It was 11:58 PM and there would be no cover in 2 minutes. The girl at the door wouldn't let them in without a cover until midnight, saying to them "If you don't like it you can go somewhere else". The guys left. I said to her, "you know, they probably would have spent at least 50 bucks in there on drinks and you just lost that business because you wanted 36 dollars for their cover charge -- now you have nothing". We wait two minutes and go in for free. We ask the door woman to have the manager come down, we'd like to talk to her. Denise (Hi Denise) comes over ready for a fight. We honestly weren't trying to make trouble with her so I don't know why she was so agressive. We ask her why there's a cover tonight, she starts spewing a canned response, not letting us get a word in edgewise -- and I mean we seriously couldn't interject anywhere in the conversation. She says she can't do anything about how things are, it's all up to the owner. She's obviously heard it all before and doesn't have time to discuss it anymore with all the 6 people in the bar. We try to tell her the door woman just told a potential customer to screw off, she says she'll take care of it and continues on with her canned response. We get it, you don't care about making the only lesbian bar in Philadelphia a better place where people might like to hang out. We give up, finish our drinks and leave.

• Another lesbian (who used to bartend at another gayborhood bar) summed up sisters pretty well for me: "Sisters! God I never go there anymore, that place will make me suck dick again!"

Is there anything that can be done about this debacle? It's a shame because I really want to like this place or feel connected to other lesbians in some way but this place is so depressing.

I don't know any lesbians who don't feel exactly the same way you do. The place is an intolerable waste of space. There's a new place opening where The Post used to be called Stir, I have a feeling it will have a much more inviting crowd.

Sisters is going to run itself out of business. I think it's been around so long simply because it is the only gay bar catering specifically to women. Unfortanately gay bar owners don't always have the savviest business minds. It's a niche market and many of these places can stay in business simply by satisfying the status quo. But as new places open and gay people start venturing beyond the gayborhood, these stagnant venues are going to have to step it up or get out of the way.

__________________
The idealistic are no longer concerned with influencing public opinion and creating a free world of responsible and ethical social choices, but rather imposing opinion through legislation, mandating these ethics, and outlawing choice in what the loudest sample finds offensive.

Ban the Bans. It's a slippery slope between Idealism and Fascism.

I think thats why all the Ladies 2000 parties have been so successful.