At the time, Belltown was an "earthy and grimy" area with "unsavory" people, dilapidated buildings and artist squats with few other businesses.
[1][3] At the time, Belltown was not an obvious choice for a live music venue because most successful clubs were located in Pioneer Square.
[1] Nonetheless, Dorgan formed a limited partnership (to which she served as general partner) and spent $65,000 renovating and decorating the new space.
The Seattle music scene was starting to gain national international attention due to groups like Nirvana and Pearl Jam.
[1] In 1992, Dorgan's business partners (Jerold Everard and Erickson Shirley) sued her alleging she failed to keep proper financial records and cash receipts disappeared under suspicious circumstances.
[5] Specifically, they accused Dorgan of failing to keep cash receipts from live-music admission fees, the sales of cigarettes and t-shirts, as well as revenue from pinball machines and a pool table.
[7] Though when Dorgan established the "Croc" in Belltown the area was edgy, it was eventually gentrified and became more expensive than those neighborhoods surrounding it.
[8][9] The more affluent new residents of Belltown were not necessarily people who would attend live music performances, and the Croc had trouble competing with upscale new businesses in the area.
[5] In 2010, Dorgan was appointed by Mayor Greg Nickels to a task force to draft proposals for new rules governing local nightclubs.
[5] She was one of 15 club owners and neighborhood activists appointed by the mayor to serve on the task force to draft rules aimed at balancing the needs of the vibrant local music scene and residents concerned about noise, rowdy behavior and illegal conduct associated with nightclub patrons.
[5] In 1992, Dorgan met guitarist, Peter Buck, when his band R.E.M was in Seattle mixing their album Automatic for the People at the Bad Animals Studio in Belltown.