Los Angeles Music Scene: The Blue Whale closes down

On Dec 30th, The Blue Whale jazz venue decided to permanently shut down.  

WBGO (Dec 31) has the following to say: 

Another small but glowing constant for jazz over the last decade has quietly been extinguished.

The Blue Whale, a 100-capacity performance space in the Little Tokyo district of Los Angeles, announced on Wednesday that it was closing permanently. Like many other bars and nightspots across the country, it had been dark since mid-March, due to restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The loss of The Blue Whale punches a hole in the jazz infrastructure of Los Angeles, which was already a patchwork. It’s another blow to the cultural life of a city and county laid low by the pandemic, and a clear setback for the expanding reach of improvised music among an enthusiastic younger audience.

I'm not a big fan of jazz. I recognize many of the legends of jazz and I occasionally listen to KJazz 88.1, but I don't go out of my way to catch live jazz music. 

Yet reading about this venue shutting down caught me by surprise. This happened after the coronavirus relief bill was signed into law on Sunday, December 27th, which includes the $10 billion for Save our Stages grants. Prior to the 27th, we all knew that Save Our Stages money was in the bill as early as Monday, December 21st -- if not earlier. 

I am a little curious on what's going on here and find it concerning for the future of other Los Angeles venues. 

Did The Blue Whale know it wouldn't qualify for a grant? Seems hard to believe since it had a long history of operation.

Or did the owner decide to just move on to something new, but then why wait until after Save Our Stages passed?