Pineapple Grove gets its Groove

From left, Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce President Mike Malone, Pineapple Groove partners Mike Stone, Mitch Clarvit and Randy Grinter, Delray Beach Vice Mayor Adam Frankel, incoming chamber board Chairman Gregg Weiss and chamber membership director name deleted

By Palm Beach Business.com

DELRAY BEACH — Once again, downtown Delray Beach has a venue for live music. Pineapple Groove has opened in the site once last occupied by City Limits.

The partners, Randy Grinter, Mitch and Richard Clarvit and Mike Stone, all have entertainment backgrounds and share a single goal: to make Pineapple Groove the spot for live music in Delray Beach and beyond.

“We’re thankful to be part of this community,” Grinter said during ribbon-cutting ceremonies last week. “I wouldn’t have done a club anywhere else than Delray.”

The space, formerly the warehouse for Hands Office Supply, has been vacant since City Limits closed its doors in 2008. One vestige of its past remains: the words City Limits still sit above the Pineapple Groove marquee at the main entrance. The interior covers 8,000 square feet, big enought to handle a crowd of 500.

Grinter, who serves as executive producer for Pineapple Groove, has operated15 clubs in South Florida and has more than 30 years in the entertainment industry. He plans to avoid the same fate as City Limits by focusing more on local talent. City Limits tended to book more national acts. Pineapple Groove also will have a multimedia capability that smaller clubs usually don’t have.

“We’d like to be the music venue for South Florida,” Grinter said.

The partners appear to have the talent and experience to make that happen.

Stone, brother of actress Sharon Stone and a musician, poet and actor, serves as operation manager for Pineapple Groove. His movie credits include The Quick and the Dead, which starred his sister, and Jay and Silent Bob Strike back.

Clarvit is a graduate of Johns Hopkins and the writer of more than 180 songs. His brother, Richard, an entertainment lawyer and songwriter in his own right, is also a partner in Pineapple Groove.

On hand for the ribbon-cutting were Delray Beach Vice Mayor Adam Frankel and representatives of the Delray Beach Chamber of Commerce, including President Mike Malone, membership Director Candace Rojas and 2011 board Chairman Greg Weiss.

Said Weiss, a self-confessed music lover: “No one’s happier than me that this is opening up.”

Besides live music, Pineapple Groove also will be available to host events. The club is situated at 19 NE 3rd Avenue, just north of Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach.