A bitter ending is always better than an endless bitterness.
Casbah is a good example of a
turning point in a neighborhood where reality switches from everyday common sense to the corporate world reason. We stayed longer than reason permitted. We tried our best for the friends of Casbah, but what is impossible is impossible so we were forced to go with no notice for ourselves either. We had to pack up 20 years of a business over night. Silver lake as it was when we started the neighborhood is gone for good and we could not be the sole supporter for keeping silver lake as it started any longer. Casbah never meant to be in such an aggressive and abusive environment with closely surrounding corporate businesses just down the street wanting to be celebrities, just simply a beautiful and real place to be with interesting people. We want to thank the people whos children grew up on our corner and the people it saw everyday for 18 years, those who knew the staff by name. Thank you to those of which stayed working year after year, you know who you are. Those of which were unhappy were never forced to stay. We hope that other small businesses around Sunset Blvd. learn from Casbah. If you do not own your own building, you do not own your own business! For the business its worth nothing, for the landlord its worth everything. Casbah was unable to sell their business, though now forced to leave, it will be sold by no one else, but The Landlord. Where was the media when a small business like Casbah was in need of their support when corporate America was jumping up at every Sunset building? Is it because Casbah didnt pay for their ads? And after almost a decade of no write ups, it shuts down and now its the time to take the article glory on a home run. Casbah hopes that the people who make up Los Angeles, and the media which feed it, learn that if there is a small business that should be kept open, the bare minimum is not enough. Best wishes to the real Casbah supporters, the people who understood the quality of it and the difference between money-hungry corporations and small intimate rare businesses like Casbah Cafe. After all, this is the country for small businesses and entrepreneurship, nest-ce pas? Quant vous, suivez Mars, ou l'Amour, ou le Prince; Allez, venez, courez; demeurez en province; Prenez femme, abbaye, emploi, gouvernement: Les gens en parleront, n'en doutez nullement. La Fable de la Fontaine
-From the family that brought Los Angeles things from all around the world without billions of dollars and without any "super Pac" behind it.