“My interest has always been the more high-culture side of what the Knitting Factory did and less about the rock-and-roll, beer-drinking side,” he said. “The leaning of the investors today is much more toward making it a profitable bottom-line business."

Dorf said he had wanted to move the club to a more commercial street. “It’s no secret that Leonard Street is a different block than it was 10 years ago,” he said.

He also wanted a more upscale space for performers such as Laurie Anderson and Philip Glass.“From Houston Street to Tribeca was a big upgrade. My feeling was to continue in that direction. They’re not interested.”

For all his differences with the Knit’s majority owners, Dorf said, it was hard to pull away. He even held onto a vision of his children one day opening Knitting Factorys of their own.

It was the prospect of moving to Wall Street, he said, that got him excited about making the split.“I realized that if I do something new, maybe in a little way it could help the city, help culture, help the screwed-up world. And maybe push in a direction that means something more.”

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