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The new space was previously iCandy, and its owner, Darryl DePiano’s, repeated use of a racial slur in a viral video put it in hot water. PBP It’s been noted in an article by Philly Voice – and you even mentioned it before – that you felt you outgrew the smaller space of the old Tabu. It’s got a lot of different spaces within it that gives everybody a bit of what they want. They’ve all made this…not necessarily their home, but a point where they like to come and hang out. We’ve also engaged a lot of leagues that are not LGBT that just want a space that’s more welcoming because they have some members who are LGBT. We’ve engaged with every LGBT sports league in the city. JS I don’t know that you’re ever gonna get there because there’s still so much to do in engaging people in the sports aspect.
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Do you find that you’ve successfully married your love of sports with your business with Tabu? PBP You’ve mentioned being the softball commissioner and I know anyone who finds you on Facebook will see that your profile immediately screams “baseball”. We worked out a deal to stay there many years and then we had the opportunity to buy this building. And the realities of not owning our own building forced us out of our space. And as it grew, we grew out of our space. And that’s how Tabu kinda turned into the dual space that it was back then. They wanted a performance space because there really wasn’t a very good performance space in the neighborhood for the smaller shows. So we opened up Tabu and realized that people wanted something more than a sports bar. So I decided that we’re just going to open up our own sports bar. I had asked, personally as the commissioner of the gay softball league in town, every bar owner to start showing games and nobody wanted to. We then opened it up as Tabu with the hope that a sports bar would find its legs in the gayborhood. Our liquor attorney represented the building owner at what was once Sal’s back at 200 S. We looked for about a year for a space and we ended up opening up Mikey’s Bar & Grill up in West Philly next to Drexel University. JS Back in 2004/2005, my brother who is a caterer in New York City had just opened a wine bar in Ingelwood, NJ and suggested that we look at something down here because it was much less expensive for rent. PBP What did the transition look like moving into being part owner of Tabu? JS I moved to Philly Februfor a job at a law firm. PBP After doing a little digging, I’ve seen on your Facebook profile that you’re originally from Newburgh, New York. I enjoyed the sports bar ambiance and an informative conversation about Tabu’s owner, what makes Tabu special, and the new event with Philly Black Pride. I didn’t get to enjoy the beautiful temperature of a sunny day as much as I would have liked, but I was received warmly by the staff and Sotland, himself. Seven minutes after our scheduled time, I finally arrived. Thanks to a backed-up train, I was running late to a meeting with Jeffrey Sotland of Tabu Lounge & Sports Bar to talk about Philly Black Pride’s upcoming event, Black Friday.
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I’m learning that Septa is good for screwing with your plans.