Well, we can't blame gentrification for this one: Tony Mengis of East End has confirmed that he's throwing in the towel on the bar/music venue in the wake of this summer's fire, with plans to move to Amsterdam later this winter:

East End is prob done. The landlord still has no timeline for the bldg being ready and has not even heard from the city what he needs to do. After all he will have to spend on the bldg and the raise in insurance I am not even sure I would want to accept the new lease price. So East End as it applies to me is over. Amsterdam sounds less stressful for 3-5 yrs...

Mengis reports that his former partner in the business, Pat Kennedy, already left, after "the fire sent him over the edge. So no one to keep it open."

On October 17, a post on the East End blog seemed pessimistic ("We still do not have enough information to know when, or even if, we can open again... Thank you to all the bands, DJs, artists and everyone who did events and parties there. And thank you everyone who came by for a drink or 12 over the years.") but it seems you can finally officially begin the grieving process.