ENTERTAINMENT NEWS : Storyteller’s Sad Ending : * Sparse daytime business forces the Canoga Park coffeehouse to close. ‘This hurts like crazy,’ the owner says.
Last winter, Ron Lancaster was told by friends not to open a new coffeehouse in Canoga Park.
Poor location. Poor parking.
Poor Lancaster. Last week, he announced he will close the Storyteller Bookstore & Cafe on Thursday.
Since he opened in March, Lancaster said, he has lost $45,000, about $6,000 per month, in addition to approximately $50,000 in savings he spent to establish the place.
“I was fighting it all along,” said Lancaster, 52, who pursued his lifelong dream of owning a business after he lost his job last year as a financial analyst for Hughes Aircraft. “I kept thinking it would get better but it didn’t. I just ran out of money. People told me it wouldn’t work, but I figured I could make it so appealing that people wouldn’t resist. Well, they did resist.”
Lancaster said the cafe, located on the north side of Sherman Way just west of Topanga Canyon, never generated a regular daytime clientele. The Storyteller attracted a larger crowd at night for its entertainment, which included poetry readings, opera, classical, bluegrass and traditional storytelling.
“My bread and butter had to be Canoga Park and Woodland Hills,” he said, “but they weren’t too excited about coming. I had no walk-by traffic, and the parking was difficult. I just picked the wrong location.”
To pay bills, Lancaster is selling the cafe’s merchandise, including a piano, cappuccino maker and used books. He also hopes to raise about $50,000 to open a new coffeehouse in Santa Monica, but admits the prospects aren’t too likely. So far, he said, he has received pledges for about $15,000.
“This hurts like crazy,” said Lancaster, who has started looking for a new job. “My heart is broken.”
He said he will host a final party Thursday, featuring many of the entertainers who performed at Storyteller throughout the year.
“It will be our wake,” he said.
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COBALT COMEBACK--One man’s wake is another man’s wake-up call. Dave Politi, owner of the Cobalt Cafe that was forced to close in October when it lost its lease on Ventura Boulevard, has assumed the Storyteller’s lease and hopes to reopen in mid-January.
“I’m excited about this place,” Politi said. “It’s about 3 1/2 times the size of the old Cobalt, giving me a lot of room to expand.” He plans partition off an area for people who don’t want to listen to music.
He said he is not worried about the location problems that Lancaster faced.
“There are a few established bars in the area,” Politi said, “and I’ll bring a lot of people there.” Cobalt opened originally in January, 1991, and has hosted poetry readings and musical events.
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TEEN HANGOUT--Two high school buddies are trying again to spice up night life in the Valley.
Last summer, Scott Nemes, 19, an actor, and partner Sean Entin, 21, a USC business major, opened SpiralWest, a Sunday night dance club in Encino geared to young teen-agers. The club, which featured a laser show, billiards, a nonalcoholic bar and Top 40 music, was open for five Sundays in August and September before the fall school semester began.
“We heard from parents that it was hard for kids to go out on a school night,” said Nemes, “and we couldn’t get any clubs for Friday or Saturday nights because we don’t serve alcohol and that’s how they make their money.”
But with the winter vacation approaching, Nemes and Entin have reopened SpiralWest for four nights this month--Sunday, Thursday, and Dec. 26 and 30. SpiralWest will take over Club Hola, a Ventura Boulevard restaurant and dance club for the 21-and-over crowd. The SpiralWest cover charge is $10, and there is no age minimum.
The two friends, alumni of Montclair Preparatory School in Van Nuys, attend USC, where they belong to Alpha Epsilon Pi.
Entin, a senior, hopes to produce films. Nemes, a sophomore film student, played Grant Schumacker on the Fox-TV sitcom “It’s Garry Shandling’s Show” and had a recurring role on the ABC-TV sitcom “The Wonder Years.”
SpiralWest, 15910 Ventura Blvd., Encino, will be open 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. Sunday and Thursday, and Dec. 26 and 30. Call (818) 774-WEST.