City Threatens to Shut Down Center City Nightclub Vinyl

Left: Vinyl owner Rob Wasserman, who has also been associated with Rouge (photo by HughE Dillon) | Right: A cease operations sign at Vinyl (photo provided)

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City Threatens to Shut Down Center City Nightclub Vinyl

Over the last couple of years, the 15th Street nightclub Vinyl has become the go-to spot in Center City for people who like to congregate in places where you have to scream at each other to have a conversation and where you can bump and grind or just drunkenly pretend you’re dancing to sounds of oomph-oomph-oomph-oomph well into the night. Well, it seems that this subset of Philadelphians may have to find somewhere else to do all of those things, because the city of Philadelphia is threatening to shut Vinyl down.

A sign appeared on the front of Vinyl in recent days, one of those red-and-white cease operations orders that business owners dread. It turns out that Vinyl owner Rob Wasserman is behind on his taxes. It’s unclear just how much – and he declined to speak on-the-record for this article – but when you peel back the piece of paper on the sign that reads “September 17, 2025”, you see this:

On the sign, the city says that it intends to revoke the commercial activity license at Vinyl due to “serious tax violations.” When I reached out to the city’s Department of Revenue, here’s what they had to say:

We are unable to discuss specific taxpayers due to state confidentiality laws. However, we can say that the City pursues license revocation when a business is either unregistered or has a delinquent tax balance and/or unfiled returns. The posting of a revocation indicates that the business is not tax compliant, and its removal generally indicates that the business has come into compliance.

The license revocation process provides ample notice to businesses and the opportunity to come into compliance at every step along the way. The Department’s many communication efforts provide businesses with a minimum of three months to get into a payment agreement or pay their balance in full before revoking their license. Revenue provides businesses with direct contact information to staff members to help them understand their options to come into compliance. Fortunately, most businesses that receive notices comply prior to revocation or shortly thereafter.

And that’s not the only business Rob Wasserman is associated with that is having tax problems. In July, the IRS filed a lien against Rouge for more than $350,000. You may remember that Wasserman and his wife Maggie Wasserman (née Maggie Stein) took over Rouge from her late father Neil Stein, who opened Rouge in 1998 and quickly turned it into the place to see and be seen. The Wassermans are currently going through a divorce, and Maggie Wasserman is said to be the primary force behind Rouge these days, with Rob Wasserman not involved in the day-to-day operations.

“Any legacy tax matters are being addressed responsibly with the IRS to ensure everything is fully resolved,” Maggie Wasserman told me when I asked her about that lien. “Rouge is current with all 2025 tax obligations, continues to thrive, and has a bright future ahead.”

Time will tell.

SEPTA Cuts Make National News

Some kids can’t get to school. Some people can’t get to work. This whole SEPTA thing is one big mess. And the New York Times came to Philadelphia and filed this report about it.

From the Department of Lists

You know we love our lists here at Philly Mag, and someone just turned us on to a new one. U.S. News & World Report has published a list of the most popular dog breeds in the country by city, which is definitely news you need. According to the report, the most popular breeds in Philadelphia are, in this order, Labrador retrievers, American pit bull terriers, and golden retrievers. Interestingly, or perhaps not, the most popular breeds in New York City are Shih tzu, Yorkshire terrier, and French bulldog.

And More Lists…

According to this report, the three towns around Philly with the most expensive homes are New Hope (#3), Berwyn (#2) and Devon (#1). They are the only towns in there area where the typical home price exceeds $900,000.

By the Numbers

16: Eagles players just released by the team. Make that former Eagles players, I guess. I don’t recognize a single one of the names, though that’s not necessarily saying much.

0: Amount of information that Mayor Parker was able to provide yesterday about some brilliant plan the city is working on to help students get to school in light of the drastic SEPTA cuts. “What will it look like?” Parker said on Monday. “We can’t give you any details right now. We’re still working through that, but we will have a public announcement soon.” It’s not like the city knew about these cuts for a while or anything.

24: Age of this Ventnor cop, who stands accused of sharing explicit surveillance footage of a woman in a holding cell. He allegedly shared it with folks on Snapchat. So much for that cushy pension, bro.

Local Talent

Wednesday seems like a great day to go to America’s first zoo, which is, of course, the Philadelphia Zoo. 75 degrees and sunny. As an added bonus to your zoo visit, you can enjoy a reading of a new children’s book. Debra Kim Wolf, former vice president of the Fairmount Park Commission and co-founder of the Philadelphia Environmental Film Festival just released A Family for Zoya: The True Story of an Endangered Cub. Apparently, the event also includes the feeding of an Amur tiger. The whole thing kicks off at 11 a.m. I’m there for the tiger feeding. It’s $27, which includes a copy of the book, and keep in mind that 100 percent of the book’s profits are going to the Tiger Conservation Campaign.