Shadow Lounge closes doors, says goodbye to East Liberty

Word that the Shadow Lounge was closing down swirled from one neighborhood to the other, spreading among mournful Pittsburghers and nostalgic artists. Some thought owner Justin Strong was being forced to shut down the thriving business he built from the dry roots of a once-underappreciated neighborhood into a place that hummed with the pulse of cultural vibrancy.

Rumors circulated that East Liberty’s beloved performance lounge was being “squeezed” out, another small business affected by East Liberty’s gentrification — the increase in newer establishments that have created a renewed interest in the area. On March 30, the Shadow Lounge indeed closed its doors — but not because of economic challenges. After 13 years of running the popular Baum Boulevard concert venue and social hub, Strong decided to close his business at the rented space in the hope of reopening once he has purchased his own property.

Although many patrons have expressed a strong sense of nostalgia and regret at the lounge’s recent closing, regulars of the Shadow Lounge support its owner’s vision and look forward to the venue’s eventual reincarnation. Strong, for his part, is satisfied with the process of beginning a new chapter for his establishment.

“We went through 12 1/2 years piecing together a music venue and learning along the way,” Strong said. “Once you put all that labor into it, you want to own it.”

The legacy begins

As a former student at Pitt, Strong hosted house parties in Central Oakland at 305 Meyran Ave. He eventually sought to find a bigger space, deciding to take a chance on an area where “people would hang up their phones,” he said.

He remembers the day — June 24, 2000 — that he “got the keys and started to sweep up,” an act that marked the beginning of what would become both a home for local and traveling artists, as well as a starting platform for hip-hop artists including Mac Miller and Wiz Khalifa.

The Shadow Lounge has since then expanded to become a sort of trifecta, adding the Blue Room — a space for private events — in 2005 and AVA Lounge — an “ultra-bar”-inspired lounge — in 2006. The three-room establishment offered a variety of entertainment during its time.

But longtime regular and friend of Strong, Karriem Sami, said that the Lounge “wasn’t born out of a business. It began as a creative space.”

Geen Stovall, a regular customer and performer at the Lounge since 2000, also believes that Shadow Lounge was rare in its artistic origins and its diverse appreciation for the arts and its patrons.

“It was the only bar of its kind, probably in the nation,” Stovall said. “We had people coming in from other cities and they’d be like, ‘There’s no place like this.’ And they were right. It was the only place you could go sit down and there would be people of all races, from 18 to 40, and everyone sharing ideas and having fun together.”

Strong agrees that the Shadow Lounge had a certain ability to bring people together.

“You get everybody. You get people that normally would pass each other on the street and wouldn’t think they had anything in common, and then later that night, they’re hanging out in the bar, drinking some beers together,” Strong said.

The act of “passing one another,” or coming casually into contact with other groups of people, is a connection that might otherwise not exist between the stratified groups of individuals in Pittsburgh, but acts as a constant theme for Strong.

“In one given night, you could have a performance going on in the Shadow Lounge, you could have a DJ spinning in AVA [with] people at the bar, and then you could have the Columbians having a party in the Blue room. You have three different sets of people passing each other in the hallway [that connects the lounges],” he said.

The decision to own

Despite the success of the Shadow Lounge, both culturally and in regard to business, Strong decided it was time to set up shop somewhere else.

“It was time to renew the lease [in the fall of 2012], and we decided if we were going to do it [make the move], to do it now,” Strong said. “We decided to end the Shadow Lounge side and keep the AVA and Blue room going, start on the pathway to owning our own building.”

The concept of owning a venue as opposed to renting one was the major catalyst sparking Strong’s decision to look elsewhere.

“Anytime you can own, you’re in a better position. You have a vote at the table,” Strong said.

Sami expressed a similar ideology.

“When you own, you have some type of stake. When you rent, you’re vulnerable,” he said. Renters, according to Sami, tend to be vulnerable underneath property owners who can, and do, raise rent prices.

“There’s not a lot you can do about [rising rent prices] except for move forward. That’s what [Shadow Lounge] is trying to do,” Sami said. “Part of [the decision to move] is business. Part of evolution is survival. How do we survive? … Business decisions are necessary for evolution, and owning is paramount to this evolving, [the combination of] Darwinism and evolution.”

Looking positively into the future and striving to evolve is exactly what Strong is doing.

“For us, it’s more of a long-term [decision]. Our reputation is strong. We don’t want to pay rent 25 years down the line,” Strong said.

Loungers react to the news

According to Strong, regulars of the Shadow Lounge seemed optimistic at the thought of a new venue. Because Strong plans to maintain a similar atmosphere at the new location, he said they feel confident that the business will succeed.

“They’ve seen us expand from just one room with 10 couches and Arizona iced teas and blueberry muffins into a multiple-room venue with a liquor license and national acts coming in. They kind of expect it. [It’s] the next stage of development for us,” he said.

But not all longtime affiliates of the Shadow Lounge are as excited about the move as Strong and Sami. Stovall admitted to feeling nostalgic and emotional as he spoke about the early days of the Lounge. He remembered it as a place that felt “like you were walking into your friend’s living room.”

“I don’t think it’s going to be the same,” Stovall said. “I really don’t.”

Stovall remembers the times that Strong would open up the Shadow Lounge on Thanksgiving and Christmas, and 40 to 50 people would come just to “sit around and talk about their families.”

But Stovall doesn’t only connect this sense of family with the Shadow Lounge. Stovall said he also feels a family-like connection with Strong, a man who once scouted him out and strongly supported his art.

“I know that if [Strong] sets up a Shadow Lounge somewhere else, whether I like it or not, I’m going to help him get that place big,” he said. “He’s one of my best friends, and he has had my back, so I will definitely have his back.”

For the last three years, Strong has been looking for buildings in parts of the city that have the potential to develop the way East Liberty did.

“Larimer [in the East End of Pittsburgh] is definitely our No. 1, ideal situation, but we have been scouting some other areas in the city,” Strong said.

While the Shadow Lounge has been credited for sparking major development in East Liberty with its increasingly popular musical acts and comfortable atmosphere, some view its planned move as having the potential not only to improve the Shadow Lounge, but also another Pittsburgh neighborhood.

Strong said that there were many individuals who “came out of the woodwork” to advocate certain neighborhoods around the city. Stovall seemed to reinforce his friend’s view.

“You still have a lot of Pittsburghers who will not cross bridges,” Stovall said. “I think Justin has made a rep for himself, and the people are definitely going to follow him.”

A hopeful finale

With the end of one chapter in the life of the Shadow Lounge does not come the end of its legacy as a venue that changed a neighborhood and brought people together. In an attempt to “end it properly,” Strong said, on March 29 and 30, the Shadow Lounge held a Legacy Series, a two-day concert, to celebrate the memories and talent that have passed through the Lounge over the years. Bands such as Sonji and Eviction Notice played during the event.

“It wasn’t a reunion of old musicians,” Strong insisted, but rather a celebration of what was and what is to come.

Even after the Legacy Series, Strong said he is still “not too emotionally involved” in the location’s closing. Instead, he found significance in being able to define the end of an era.

“It usually just kind of fades away [to where] when you’re 50, you ask, ‘What happened to us?’ We were able to put an end to that era and capture it on audio and video.”

In addition, Strong will continue the Shadow Lounge’s website as an archive featuring bits of the Legacy Series released each month. It will act as a space for people to upload pictures, videos and stories of the lounge.

With both nostalgia for the past and excitement for the prospects of the future, Strong hopes to reopen the Shadow Lounge by 2015. But the time of transition will not constitute a lull for Strong or music culture in East Liberty. The Ava Lounge and Blue Room will remain open and in full force.

“I think in a few years we’re going to look back and see this as a pivotal moment in Pittsburgh music history — Pittsburgh arts history,” Strong said.