Spider House Café and Ballroom is a venue located on Fruth St. near UT. In the fall of 2017, a former employee and his wife released an open letter detailing their experiences with sexual assault, aggression, and harassment from John Dorgan, one of the owners of Spiderhouse, as well as the how other owners and management helped enable Dorgan’s behavior.
In February 2014, John Dorgan sexually assaulted a woman who had given him a ride home from Spiderhouse. Employees were not allowed to cut Dorgan off, resulting in him frequently getting wasted at Spiderhouse and acting belligerently towards employees, performers, and patrons. After initially being confronted about the assault, Dorgan acted remorseful and placed the blame on his drunkenness. For the next year, he proceeded to harass the employee who had confronted him until the employee was finally let go.
Since the open letter was published, other employees have come forward describing Dorgan’s belligerent behavior and harassment.
Institution Response:
When the assault was initially reported to management, the issue was largely deflected with no commitment to take action or rectify the situation. Co-owner Conrad Bejarano and the management silently enabled John to harass people and get belligerently drunk.
After the open letter was published, Spiderhouse posted a statement saying that Dorgan was banned from the premises but that he remains a “silent partner,” who still has a stake in the business. The Spiderhouse website also features I Luv Vintage and I Luv Video, two other stores co-owned by Dorgan, as Sister Stores. Spiderhouse announced a “community meeting” to address the concerns and make up for the past, but this was eventually postponed indefinitely. To this day, Spiderhouse has not made efforts to rectify its past or cut Dorgan out of the business completely.
People should not do business at Spiderhouse until Jeremy Durnford (GM) is removed, Dorgan is removed, and Conrad addresses victims & explains his enabling of Dorgan’s behavior.
Conrad Bejarano, co-owner of Spiderhouse
Jeremy Durnford (right)
Full open letter:
