My Father’s Place to bring rock back to Roslyn

Amelia Camurati
My Father's Place will return to Roslyn in the Roslyn Hotel, a few hundred feet from its original location. (Photo by Steve Rosenfield)

My Father’s Place, a popular club in the 1970s and ’80s, will reopen in the spring of 2018 inside the Roslyn Hotel.

Michael Epstein is seen behind the bar in the original My Father’s Place. (Photo by Steve Rosenfield)

Michael “Eppy” Epstein, the original club owner, will return with new general manager Dan Kellachan to bring bands on the rise in the national music scene back to the intimate North Shore club.

“I have built clubs for people, I’ve run clubs for people, I’ve done a lot of things in the music industry, but this will be the only club that I will actually call mine since we closed,” Epstein said.

“We decided to bring it back because a lot of us are unhappy that there is no music industry to speak of and it takes so long for a band like 21 Pilots or Cage the Elephant to break so many albums,” Epstein said. “It takes so long to develop the brand that I’m hoping to give a little helping hand to young bands and young artists, whether they’re jazz, rock, blues, country, comedy, reggae, everything.”

Epstein said there will be one exception: No cover bands allowed. Beyond that, Epstein said, any group with growing recognition that can get a few hundred people into the 225-seat club can be booked at the returning venue.

Epstein said he will keep much about the club the same as when it closed in 1987, but the food will be upgraded through the Roslyn Hotel.

My Father’s Place in Roslyn was a popular intimate music venue from 1971 to 1987. (Photo by Steve Rosenfield)

“The problem with the club scene is the food is crap, and you don’t go there to eat,” Epstein said. “I want this to be a place to have a good menu.”

My Father’s Place was one of the first American clubs the Police played in 1979, first to a crowd of about 30 people, Epstein said, before their second appearance to a packed house before playing the Nassau Coliseum six months later.

Epstein, who said he does not want credit for “discovering” the Police, found their hit song “Roxanne” on a compilation album, “No Wave,” in England. He took the song to the WLIR radio station and played it eight times before A&M Records signed the band.

Long Beach native Billy Crystal also got his start at My Father’s Place, and Epstein said he outshone performers around him.

After booking a performance for Crystal, Epstein called the Rollins and Joffe offices, which managed Woody Allen and Tony Bennett, to get someone to Crystal’s show.

“And the rest for Billy Crystal was history,” Epstein said.

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