4 worldwide for celebrating PrideĭePiano confirmed that he’s selling iCandy’s building – and not the business – to Stephen Carlino, at Sotland partner at Tabu who also owns popular
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Officially own the building where Darryl DePiano has owned and operated iCandyfor the past eight years. If the deal goes through as planned, in the next few weeks, Tabu will RELATED: Gay Philly lawmaker shares homophobic, threatening letter he received to much-larger quarters down the street at 254 S. The bar will relocate from its current location at 200 S. Woody’s could not be reached for comment.Tabu Lounge and Sports Bar told its employees for the first time on Tuesday night that the popular gay sports bar will move out of its current home in the Gayborhood. This campaign is, as of now, only $1,000 short of its $5,000 goal. Employees at Knock also launched a GoFundMe campaign to benefit servers, bartenders, barbacks and kitchen crew. “They seem to be in good spirits,” said Nields. Nevertheless, Nields makes it a point to reach out to his staff every week to see how everyone is faring. In fact, TOC is the oldest gay bar in the city - it started as a “gentleman’s club” called Maxine’s in the 1920s and changed hands multiple times but always retained its spirit as a gay bar. It would be hard to get to know a bartender.” TOC and Ubar are smaller, more established joints in the Gayborhood. Because of the size of Tabu, it may not work in their favor. Offering an explanation of why a place like Tabu might have a harder time raising money than TOC, Evans said: “We have a lot of regulars who have been regulars for years. However, only a quarter of the goal has been reached in over a week.
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One Tabu bartender launched a GoFundMe campaign to help Tabu’s staff. After Tabu closed its doors on March 11, Nields helped pass out perishable food items to his employees and Tabu owner, Jeff Sotland, is planning to bring in the kitchen staff to prepare the next shipment of perishable food and invite employees to come take some meals home - in shifts, of course. Howard Nields, assistant general manager for Tabu, took Carlino’s generous efforts as inspiration to help support his staff.
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Carlino also donated all shipments of perishable foods to his employees in hopes that both this and pay would help carry them through a financially difficult time. Evans explained that “Stephen is less like a boss and more like a dad.” Evans was happily surprised to see two weeks’ pay on his latest check along with the rest of the staff of The Tavern Group.
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Evans was also full of gratitude for Ubar’s owner, Stephen Carlino, who owns TOC, The Tavern Restaurant and Otto’s Taproom under parent company, The Tavern Group. This was before citywide announcements that rent and utilities payments had been suspended, explained Evans, so the need seemed that much more pressing. Sorg and Evans decided to launch the campaign right after TOC and Ubar had to close due to COVID-19. “Management has been incredibly supportive,” said Jason Evans, a bartender at Ubar, who, along with Evan Sorg, had the initial idea for the GoFundMe campaign. No campaign has been quite as successful as that of TOC and Ubar, so other establishments have had to get creative with food assistance and limited work opportunities to support their employees in wake of the COVID-19 crisis. This campaign sparked similar efforts by other Gayborhood bars such as Tabu and Knock to launch their own fundraising campaigns. Philadelphia, PA – Within just 30 hours, Tavern on Camac (TOC) and Ubar’s GoFundMe campaign to raise money for out-of-work staff met their goal of $5,000.