Rich Machlin, Philly music venue and restaurant owner who cofounded Tin Angel and Serrano, has died
The Old City intimate club and eatery were ahead of their time. Legends and locals were regulars at the tin-ceilinged railroad car-shaped 115 seater showplace.
Richard Machlin, 72, the Philadelphia music venue owner and restaurateur who cofounded the now-shuttered Old City club Tin Angel and its downstairs eatery, Serrano, has died. He was a lifelong lover and supporter of the arts.
Mr. Machlin died July 6 at NYU Langone Hospital in Manhattan from complications from prostate cancer. His wife, Pamela Machlin, confirmed his death.
The Tin Angel, conceived by Mr. Machlin as an “acoustic listening room,” opened in 1992 and was an immediate success, though bands also frequently plugged in. It lasted for an impressive 4,850 shows over 24 years, the last 10 of which were after Mr. Machlin and his partner, Jude Erwin, sold it in 2006.
The tin-ceilinged, railroad car-shaped, 115-seat showplace was booked by music industry veteran Larry Goldfarb with Mr. Machlin’s collaborative support. It took its place on a Second Street live music strip that also included the rock clubs Khyber Pass Pub and later, Upstairs at Nick’s, and was a center of Philly nightlife before the action moved north toward Fishtown.
“Rich was a music lover,” said Goldfarb, who recalled having the chance to book “It’s My Party” 1960s singer Lesley Gore for more than they were accustomed to spending in the cozy space. “We didn’t pay anybody $5,000 in those days. So I went to Rich, and he gave me the green light.”
The Tin Angel’s busy, often two-shows-a-night calendar was full with rising acts like Jeff Buckley, Gillian Welch, Neko Case, Citizen Cope, Patty Griffin, and John Legend, then a University of Pennsylvania student known as John Stephens.
It also became home to legends in the latter stages of their careers, including Gil Scott-Heron, Townes Van Zandt, Richie Havens, LaVern Baker, Odetta, Donovan, Laura Nyro, Rick Danko, and Guy Clark.
The Tin Angel was a crucial proving ground for Philly acts like Amos Lee (who worked as a bartender there), as well as Ben Arnold, Susan Werner, the Low Road, G. Love, Jim Boggia, Jeffrey Gaines, and Melody Gardot.
Ben Vaughn was the first act onstage in November 1992, and the last in January 2017.
“I knew Rich from Serrano so when he asked me to play opening night I said yes right away,” Vaughn said. “When it was time to pay me, he also gave me a sweater. I guess I looked cold. Rich was a fantastic supporter of the arts and a great guy. His vision of an acoustic listening room in Old City was a gift to local music fans.”
“Rich treated local musicians who wrote original songs like VIPs. He made us feel special,” said veteran Philadelphia troubadour Kenn Kweder, who played at Tin Angel scores of times. “And that’s in contrast to some other Philadelphia club owners, so that meant the world to all of us. He was a total professional.”
Mr. Machlin was raised in Wheaton, Md., and worked in Boston in hotel and hospitality management after graduating with an American Studies degree from Boston University.
He moved to the Philadelphia area in 1983. And with his then-romantic partner Erwin, who had worked in restaurants and theater, opened Serrano in 1985, taking over from an eatery called Manny’s Eclectic Fare.
Serrano was ahead of the curve in the Philadelphia restaurant boom, offering “international home cooking,” and opening a decade before Stephen Starr launched his empire with the Continental up the street at Second and Market.
“We had fajitas on the menu, and we had to tell people how to make them,” Erwin recalled of the clientele who didn’t know the restaurant was named for a pepper. “They thought Serrano was our last name.”
The couple bought the building in 1990, and Mr. Machlin soon had a glint in his eye about the unused upstairs space.
“He had an insatiable desire to do something new,” Erwin said. She and Mr. Machlin were partners in the restaurant and venue — and would remain so after their romantic relationship ended in the early 1990s — but “the Tin Angel was Rich’s baby,” she said.
“It was totally his vision,” said Dee Dee Tiller, who managed the Tin Angel from 1994 to 2000. “Rich was super smart, and everybody who knew him would tell you that he was hilarious.”
“He was a wiseass,” said Dan Fishbein, a close friend of Mr. Machlin’s since high school. “People who knew him loved that about him. He would come up with these cutting comments that were so damn funny.”
Fishbein cited the quote that remains on Mr. Machlin’s Facebook profile where he identified himself as a “Frustrated Office Seeker”: “I want my remains to be scattered at Disney World. And I don’t want to be cremated.”
“He created the place where he would want to hang out,” Tiller said. “It was all the artists he wanted to listen to, and watch, and meet.”
“Tin Angel” is a song on Joni Mitchell’s 1969 album Clouds, but the venue was not named for it.
“It was actually a derogatory term for folk music,” Erwin says. “We’d be in Rich’s apartment in Boston and have Dylan or somebody on and his roommate Bruce would yell: ‘Take that goddamn Tin Angel off my record player!’ That’s how the name came about.”
The Tin Angel was influential as a Philly venue with a quality restaurant that always put music first.
Fans and bands could eat well — Malaysian pork chops were popular — but on a different floor. Singers did not have to compete with the sound of silverware. It’s a model Fishtown venue Johnny Brenda’s has followed since opening in 2003.
Erwin and Mr. Machlin sold to Northern Irish publican Donal McCoy in 2006, who maintained the spirit for another decade. McCoy, Goldfarb, and bookers Rich Kardon and Jesse Lundy then carried on the Tin Angel ethos by opening the Locks at Sona in 2018. That Manayunk venture did not survive the pandemic.
After selling, Mr. Machlin and his wife, Pamela, a visual artist, moved first to Peaks Island, Maine, then to nearby Portland. They started spending winters in New Orleans where Mr. Machlin immersed himself in the food and music scene and volunteered at the New Orleans Book Festival.
After moving back to Philly in 2019, he continued those cultural pursuits, volunteering for the Free Library of Philadelphia’s author series and as an usher at the Mann Center, and could frequently be seen at local gigs, particularly by his favorite Philly band, Low Cut Connie.
Mr. Machlin and his wife moved to Brooklyn last year to be closer to her family. Last week, she said, “As a memorial, I have a fantasy of organizing a Low Cut Connie concert for loved ones,” but no plans have been announced.
Mr. Machlin is survived by his wife and brothers Jack, Kenneth, and Steven Machlin.