Earlier this week, a sign on the front door of the Drama Room on Cedar Springs Road indicated that the owner has been locked out by the landlord for failure to pay rent.
“The locks have been changed,” the sign read. “Access is hereby denied.”
The landlord claims the tenants owe $28,815. That is not all unpaid rent. Back rent claimed is $11,600. A late fee is $1,160. Two other items are a “security deposit installment” of $500 and “security deposit or release” of $15,555.
Meanwhile, a group known as Cedar Springs DR Entertainment sent Dallas Voice a copy of a lawsuit filed in September against the owners of the Drama Room, Paulette Hershner and her son, Lonzie Hershner.
The Hershners didn’t return phone calls seeking comment this week. Their landlord, Penelope Hatteras, also didn’t respond to phone messages. The landlord has been running ads in Dallas Voice seeking a new tenant for the Drama Room.
Cedar Springs DR Entertainment alleges it entered into an agreement to purchase the club in June, but the Hershners reneged on the agreement. That lawsuit is set to go to court in February.
The Hershners also own Marty’s Hideaway, a gay bar on Buena Vista Street in the Cole Park area of Oak Lawn that they’ve been trying to reopen for almost two years. Neighborhood groups are trying to block the issuance of a liquor license.
A hearing has been rescheduled for Jan. 18.
The State Office of Administrative Hearings will hear the Marty’s Hideaway case at the George Allen Courts Building in downtown Dallas. The hearing was delayed from December when the neighborhood associations that want the license denied accused the judge of bias and had the case reassigned to another judge.
