The Last Refrain for Puppet's Jazz Bar

Despite two community bailout attempts, after months of financial struggle Puppet's Jazz Bar opened its doors for the last time on Tuesday night.

"My next steps are to close and fix my life and the crazy debt I have," said co-owner Jamie Affoumado, who had hoped that featuring greats like Arturo O'Farrill and Alex Blake might help raise the $15,324 to keep Puppet's open. Just last summer, a similar community bailout raised $21,000 to keep the venue running.

To date, the venue owes $30,000 in water, electric, insurance and liquor expenses. With a less than expected turnout Tuesday night, Affoumado said he just couldn't come up with the money and Puppet's will be closing.

While the economy and high rent were certainly factors in Puppet's closure, co-owner Martin Fagin also said that increasingly less people visited the jazz bar, making it a struggle to keep afloat.

"People simply have less money to spend, and so we are making less money. We are getting people through our doors less often, and when they come they are spending, on average, half of what they used to," Fagin said.

Fagin and Affoumado had worked hard to keep the club’s doors open, introducing a food menu, and calling on staples in the jazz community to help raise funds and draw business to the club.

While both figure out what's next, Affoumado says he doesn't regret his time in Park Slope. In fact, he’d even like to do it again.

"If an investor came to me today with $1 million, I'd do it all over again."