After a years-long dispute in court, the chief executive of concert promoter Knitting Factory has prevailed to take control of the beloved Pioneertown music venue Pappy & Harriet’s.
The ruling in Los Angeles Superior Court resolves a contentious fight over one of SoCal’s most iconic music venues, a rustic roadhouse on a former movie set that has hosted countless acts from Paul McCartney and Robert Plant to Lana Del Rey and Jamie xx.
Since 2021, Knitting Factory’s chief executive, Morgan Margolis, and partners Stephen Hendel and John Chapman were locked in a bitter dispute with the venue’s co-partners, Joseph Moresco and Lisa Elin.
In 2021, after Moresco and Elin changed the locks on the venue and blocked Margolis from the venue’s operations, Margolis and his partners sued the couple, alleging breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and other charges, and asked that Moresco and Elin be removed as general partners.
The jury found that Margolis and partners “had the authority to remove Moresco Holdings as the general partner of the partnership. Despite that removal, Defendants proceeded to utilize partnership assets.”
“The decision confirmed that the Margolis Group was always supposed to control the partnership, the venue operations, and the talent booking and was wrongfully ousted without basis,” Knitting Factory Entertainment said in a statement.
Margolis added, “We pride ourselves on decades of successful and meaningful partnerships and industry relationships built on trust and integrity. We are pleased that the judge and jury confirmed what we have always known to be true: we were victimized by people who tried to take more than they bargained for.
“We are excited to move forward with what we set out to do three years ago when we bought this iconic venue that is so special to so many people,” he continued. “We look forward to engaging with the community at large as we fully embed ourselves within the high desert community to honor Pappy + Harriet’s rich history.”
Brandon Fernald, an attorney for Moresco and Elin, said in a statement that “JB and Lisa have spent nearly four years working to improve and grow Pappy & Harriet’s into one of the most respected and successful restaurants and music venue in the high desert, and globally during a time when there has been significant closures of outlets in the hospitality space.”
“While we have the greatest respect for the Court and the jury,” Fernald continued, “we strongly believe both got it wrong. While this began as a mismanagement case, it ended with Mr. Hendel’s attorneys successfully keeping out any evidence of JB and Lisa’s extremely successful management of Pappy & Harriet’s during their tenure. We strongly believe that these and other decisions made by the Court were in error, and that the verdict will be overturned.” The two plan to appeal.
The fate of the venue underlined deep worries about pandemic-era gentrification of the high desert, as big-money real estate and entertainment firms jockeyed for control of desirable properties and development opportunities.
Pappy and Harriet’s namesake owners, Claude “Pappy” Allen and wife Harriet, bought the club in 1982. Pappy died in 1994; in 2003, Harriet sold the bar to Robyn Celia and Linda Krantz. In April 2021, the various investors including Margolis closed a $2.5-million transaction to lease and operate the venue.
