Three straight clubs displaced by the new stadium have applied for license transfers under legislation introduced earlier this year by gay Councilmember Jim Graham, meaning gay clubs will lose out on moving to the much sought-after warehouse district. (Blade file photo by Joey DiGuglielmo)
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LOU CHIBBARO J
Friday, November 02, 2007
One year and seven months after they were forced to close to make way for Washington’s new baseball stadium, two adult gay nightclubs eligible for one-time relocation privileges under a bill approved by City Council have yet to disclose where they plan to reopen.
Meanwhile, three other clubs displaced by the stadium that plan to cater to a straight clientele have applied for license transfers under the legislation, introduced earlier this year by gay Councilmember Jim Graham (D-Ward 1). Graham’s bill, “One-Time Relocation of Licensees Displaced by the Ballpark Amendment Act,” became law on Oct. 18 after Congress completed its required 30 legislative day review of the measure and chose not to block it.
By identifying new buildings and submitting their application for license transfers, the three straight clubs — Nexus Gold Club, Edge-Wet and Club 55 — won first dibs on reopening in a highly sought-after warehouse district in Ward 5. The warehouse district is considered desirable by club owners because it is removed from residential neighborhoods and most likely would not subject the clubs to a series of other restrictions and regulations from which the Graham bill doesn’t protect them.
In a development that is likely to anger Ward 5 civic activists, the city’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Board is considering allowing the three straight clubs into the ward despite a provision in the Graham bill that restricts the number of adult clubs displaced by the stadium to two per ward. The three clubs plan to feature nude female dancers.
The two-club-per-ward restriction was added to the bill at the request of Ward 5 Council member Harry Thomas, who joined hundreds of his constituents in raising strong objections to allowing any adult businesses to move into his ward.
ABC Board officials are considering allowing the three clubs to reopen in the ward because the board approved the license transfer for Nexus Gold Club, to 2127 Queens Chapel Road, N.E., earlier this year under liquor law regulations that existed before the Graham bill became law.
The board was expected to approve the Edge-Wet transfer to 2046 West Virginia Ave., N.E., this week under the provisions of the Graham bill.
Club 55, which was the latest of the adult businesses to apply for a transfer — to 3000 V Street, N.E. — is arguing that it is eligible to move into Ward 5 because it would become the second establishment to do so under the Graham bill. An attorney for Club 55 is expected to ask the liquor board to rule that Nexus Gold Club’s transfer should not be counted as part of the two clubs per ward restriction because of its approval prior to the Graham law taking effect.
If the city approves the license transfer of Edge-Wet and Club 55, the gay nightclubs displaced by the stadium — Ziegfeld’s-Secrets and Heat — would not be eligible for the Ward 5 warehouse district.
Thus Ziegfeld’s-Secrets and Heat must find new locations in one of the city’s remaining seven wards, where civic activists and members of Advisory Neighbor-hood Commissions have long opposed adult businesses. The mere suggestion this summer that unused space underneath Dupont Circle be considered as a spot for a gay nightclub or two was immediately denounced by neighborhood group members, some gay, despite what supporters said could be advantages to the spot: the clubs would be underground and out of sight and wouldn’t create noise.
The ABC Board and zoning commission would have the final say on whether the license transfer applications are approved, but the recommendations of civic groups and ANCs must be given “great weight” under the city’s liquor and zoning laws.
Skip Coburn, executive director of the D.C. Nightlife Associations, which represents nightclubs, bars and other businesses that serve alcoholic beverages, said the Council added so many restrictions to the Graham bill that it would be nearly impossible for the displaced gay clubs to find a new location in other wards.
“They made absolutely no sense because they dreamed this up with no reference to the zoning map,” Coburn said. “They passed a law that essentially says we’re going to let you move to absolutely nowhere where you’re qualified to move under the requirements of both the zoning laws and the ABC laws.”
Fred Moosally, general counsel for the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration, which has jurisdiction over the ABC Board, said the fact that the straight clubs have identified what they believe are suitable locations shows that the law leaves some places for the clubs to relocate.
But Moosally and other city officials acknowledge that the Graham law doesn’t change existing zoning laws and regulations and that all adult clubs serving alcohol must conform to zoning requirements before being allowed to open for business.
Graham said he agreed to the various restrictions in his bill, including the two clubs per ward provision, after his Council colleagues told him they would not vote for the bill without the restrictions. He said he did not believe the bill would pass without the restrictions.
Gay activists, led by veteran activist Frank Kameny, urged Graham and the City Council to make a one-time change in the zoning laws as well as the liquor law to allow the displaced clubs to move, saying the city forced the clubs out of business and had an obligation to allow them to reopen.
“We never asked the city to let them open anyplace,” said Rick Rosendall of the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance. “We have always said the city has a moral obligation to allow them to reopen someplace.”
Graham declined to include zoning changes in his bill, saying the Council did not have authority to change zoning laws. He noted that a quasi federal-local zoning commission must make those changes under the city home rule charter. Neither the Council nor former Mayor Anthony Williams or Mayor Adrian Fenty has asked the zoning commission to consider changes that would allow the clubs to reopen.
In April 2006, the five adult gay entertainment businesses that had been operating for more than 30 years on O Street, S.E., between Half Street and South Capitol Street, closed under an eminent domain order from the city, which was invoked to make way for the new stadium. Two of the clubs, Ziegfeld’s-Secrets and Heat, are eligible for relocation assistance and certain liquor law exemptions under the Graham bill.
The other three — the Follies Theater, which featured adult gay films and burlesque shows; Glorious Health and Amusements, an adult video arcade and bookstore; and Club Washington bathhouse — did not sell alcohol and were not included under the provisions of the Graham bill. Owners of the Follies and Club Washington announced they did not plan to reopen because they did not believe they could find a new location under the city’s zoning laws.
Gay businessman Robert Siegel, owner of Glorious Health and Amusements and owner of the buildings where most of the other O Street clubs operated, reopened his arcade business under the name Club 2120 in a warehouse in Northeast D.C. near where Edge-Wet plans to reopen. But the city revoked Siegel’s occupancy permit for Club 2120 and forced him to shut down a short time after it opened on grounds that it was operating as a “sexually oriented” business in a location where the zoning law prohibits such businesses.
Siegel has said he plans to reopen the club after making changes so that it would no longer be classified as sexually oriented.
Edge-Wet, which operated as a gay adult club with nude male dancers, closed at its old location on L Street, S.E., due to stadium-related development a short time after the O Street clubs closed. Its owner, local businessman Ron Hunt, announced later that he was changing the club from a gay to straight venue and planned to offer nude female dancers as the main form of entertainment at its new site on West Virginia Avenue. Siegel is the owner of the building in which it plans to reopen.
Around the same time the other clubs closed, the mega-dance club Nation, which was located across the street from Edge-Wet, also closed due to stadium development. Nation’s closing forced an end to the popular weekly gay dance venue Velvet Nation, which operated every Saturday inside Nation.
One of Velvet Nation’s owners, Ed Bailey, announced in July that he is opening a new large gay dance club called Town in the city’s Shaw neighborhood. ABC Board spokesperson Cynthia Simms said the board has already approved a nightclub license for Town. The license does not allow nude dancing or sexually oriented entertainment.
Allen Carroll, owner of Ziegfeld’s-Secrets, said he is looking for a place to reopen but declined to say whether he has identified a new location.
“I’m working on a few things,” Carroll said. “I don’t want to say anything more at this time. Just say Ziegfeld’s and Secrets are on their way.”
The owners of the O Street gay club Heat, which, like Secrets, featured male nude dancers, could not be reached for comment.
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