05/26/2025
So…what the hell happened?
The dream started out simple enough. Create a community driven art gallery and event space that would provide an outlet and a platform for local artists, musicians, DJs, bands, writers, poets, dancers, and all other creatives. Remove all the gatekeeping and get rid of all the unnecessary red tape and hoops to jump through. Just let local underground culture grow and develop in whatever weird, wacky, and fun ways it naturally chose to flourish.
So that's what we did. It wasn't easy. We acquired some haters along the way. But I'm going to tell you right now, it was absolutely and unapologetically worth every damn minute. We didn't have the most incredible sound system around. When we took over 2 years ago we needed something quickly and so we got the best we could in the time frame we had. We didn't have massive amounts of occupancy space, but every event that happened within our walls was full of people who were all about whatever was going on at the time. We only had one bathroom, but it's probably the most photographed bathroom in the entire Panhandle.
What we had, and continue to have, is heart.
So what went wrong?
Unfortunately, an AirBnB set up shop very close to Subculture. Apparently they received a couple bad reviews of people staying at that location because of us. They decided to file a formal complaint with the county, as we were not located in the city limits (City Limits is about 150 feet away). They tried to file a noise complaint at first. However the county blew that off because there was no ordinance violation. However they pushed the issue and kept pushing. Eventually the county agreed to come out and check out what was going on.
Code Enforcement and Fire Inspection came out and paid us a visit. I'd like to commend them on their professionalism and their support. For three days they went above and beyond trying to assist us in every way they could to keep the location open. They had zero desire to cater to the AirBnB landlord and absolutely loved what we were doing. They took time to admire all the art we had on display.
Sadly, however, it boiled down to the way Florida Code is written. Essentially because we sold alcohol for consumption and because we host music events, they had to classify us as a nightclub. The inspectors understood we were not a nightclub, at least in any traditional sense, however the code isn't written in a way to accommodate something like Subculture. We were forced into that category.
Florida Code has very specific fire safety requirements for nightclubs. The nail in the coffin for 701 N V ST was a fire safety sprinkler system. All other requests we could have met with a little effort and some elbow grease. We got some quotes from various local companies and even on a low end it would easily exceed $100,000.
We attempted to shut down alcohol sales entirely and continue as an art gallery and event space without a bar; however, there was no realistic way to make that happen. Dissolving our alcohol license takes time and we would have to go through another inspection prior to being approved to open again. It just wasn't in the cards.
The fact is that it was a very old building and it was a building we rapidly outgrew.
So we spent the last several days breaking things down and moving out. It's time to move on.
So what's next?
We are absolutely NOT quitting. We've already looked at a few locations but realistically it will take some time. Keep supporting your local artists, bands, DJs, and promoters.
In the meantime we are going to take this opportunity to reorganize Subculture into an official Non-Profit Organization. We're going to keep the spirit of Subculture alive by continuing to help promote local artists, musicians, and DJs. We're going to continue to help promote local promoters and events. We'll be providing articles, photos, videos, and more.
As soon as we are able, we'll continue offering DJ Lessons. We’ll be offering some limited edition merch drops if you want some dank ass swag that will help support us and we'll be offering graphic design and branding services for anyone who needs it.
We have always tried to be as transparent as possible so anyone who has any additional questions is welcome to hit us up.
So if you'll have some patience with us we have more to come, with significant upgrades.
With love,
Chris & Becca
TLDR:
We will be back with significant upgrades.
