Berlin Nightclub — a Lake View club that has been an anchor of the LGBTQ+ community for four decades — closed its doors for good Sunday, the nightclub announced late Tuesday.

“The party ended at 5 a.m., November 19, 2023 — nearly forty years and more than 10,000 nights from when it all began,” the nightclub said in a statement posted to its website. “So the doors are locked. The music is silenced and our dreams are now memories. We hope you made some memories with us and that you smile when they visit you.”

The announcement comes as the nightclub was in labor negotiations with Unite Here Local 1.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

“The workers of Berlin are heartbroken to hear of Jim [Schuman] and Jo [Webster’s] decision to permanently and abruptly close this historic institution,” the union said in a statement posted to X, formally known as Twitter. “This is the wrong decision.”

The nightclub owners cited “expenses of increased security, insurance and licensing, equipment, rent and more” as some of the reasons why Berlin shut its doors.

“We could not imagine morphing the bar into a bottle service, VIP-area venue,” the announcement said.

“When some of Berlin’s unionized workers went on strike and picketed on August 4th and 5th, we were shocked,” club owners said in a separate statement posted to the venue’s website. “Our entertainers and many of our staff were asked not to perform. As we rent our space, Berlin has high fixed costs and we can ill afford to lose a sold-out weekend in the summer or continue to operate with such uncertainty.”

In a separate post to social media, Unite Here Local 1 said the union “made it clear to the company that our original proposals were not final and we were negotiating in good faith to reach an agreement that was financially practical for the business. ...

“While we are sad that Jim and Jo have made this decision, we know that our community is resilient, creative and capable of dreaming things into its place.”

Schuman and Webster took ownership of Berlin after co-founder Tim Sullivan died in 1994.

“It was a remarkable tornado of talented performers and staff, inspired friends and customers, a crazy location and a lot of dreams,” the announcement said. “It’s time for us to go home.”