In a Hail Mary attempt to keep the live music playing, Zoo Zhop is making a bid to go legit.

For four years, the Main Street record store has hosted underground all-ages shows and served as an affordable space for local bands. Owner David Mattatall told the Straight that authorities have forbidden future events, and that he’s in negotiations with the city for the permits required to bring the bands back.

“It could go multiple ways,” he said in a telephone interview. “It could go where we try to allow this….It could go where they take away our business licence, in which case, it is over.”

The City’s clampdown on Zoo Zhop comes shortly after a run-in with the fire inspector.

Steve Laleune, deputy chief for Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services, tells the Straight that inspectors had to shut down a an event late Friday night (May 31) upon observing an event attended by a large number of people held without an occupancy permit.

“A fire investigator went there and did a walk through the building and found exits that were compromised,” he says. “They didn’t have an occupancy load, they didn’t have a business license. We had a safety situation that needed to be dealt with.”

Laleune notes that Zoo Zhop’s operators were cooperative and quick to address code violations, but adds that the appropriate permits will have to issued before live music events can continue.

Mattatall said that he would ideally like to see Zoo Zhop host six all-ages events plus two licensed shows each month. That would require Zoo Zhop obtaining a new occupancy permit as well as a liquor licence, neither of which it has ever had.

Meetings with the City of Vancouver have been scheduled, Mattatall says, adding he hopes to have any outstanding issues resolved in the near future.

However, he warns that events scheduled for tomorrow tonight (June 6) and Saturday will likely be moved or called off, and that more cancellations could follow.