Category Archives: Dupont Circle

Country roads, take me home

The Club, nightlife, gay news, Washington Blade

A recent night at The Club, a new gay bar in Martinsburg, W.Va. (Photo by Dale Gish)

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Gay-popular entertainment districts are almost always found in major metropolitan areas, but there’s a smattering of clubs and restaurants in the close-by regions of Maryland’s Cumberland Valley and West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle that are drawing decent-sized crowds despite being more than an hour from either Washington or Baltimore.

For decades, The Lodge in Boonsboro, Md., has been pretty much the only gay nightclub in the region. Formerly known as Deer Park Lodge and at times closed altogether, it’s been thriving again under new management since 2011 when partners Ryan Dryden and Joe Velazquez moved from Washington to reopen and run it.

Since January, it’s faced some competition as The Club (theclubwv.com), a new gay bar/club in Martinsburg, W.Va.’s Spring Mills area (about 21 miles from The Lodge), took over a large spot formerly known as straight bars Ambitions and before that, Gatsby’s. Owner Coby Myers, a gay sheriff in West Virginia, has his gay friends Jarvis Jerry Brooks and Dale Gish running the operation. They say, so far, business has been good and that they’re carving out a niche for themselves in the region by offering strong customer service, a “family”-type atmosphere and a clean and newly remodeled space. It’s about 80 miles from Dupont Circle.

“A lot of people feel it’s just easier to get instant gratification now on the Internet,” says Brooks, who DJs at The Club in addition to booking talent and planning events. “I think my thing is just that a lot of clubs have forgotten the whole aspect of a family feel, where everybody knows your name and there’s a home bar feel to it. You’re not just a number, you’re not just a door cover, there’s more to it than that.”

But can it last? Are there enough LGBT residents in these parts of Maryland and West Virginia to support two small-town gay clubs? A few others have come and gone in recent years. The Mariner Club, locals say, had a decent run for a few years on Martinsburg’s Winchester Ave. It was across the street from Sugar Daddy’s, a male strip club that, although not technically gay, had gay strippers and more gay male patrons than straight women. But both are now closed.

And more recently Spin/Club Underground, which was in downtown Hagerstown just a few doors down from the historic Maryland Theatre, died a relatively quick death after being open less than a year. Brooks, who DJed at the gay club (his DJ name is Jerrbear), says business was “hit and miss.”

Those involved say they see a brighter future for The Club.

“For one thing, it’s not mismanaged,” says Ray Stagner, a drag queen who performs as Cheyenne and who debuted at The Club last Saturday night.

Wearing full drag makeup but dressed in a ball cap, jeans and guy’s T-shirt while puffing on a cigarette in The Club’s downstairs smoking-allowed pool room, Stagner, a Hagerstown resident, says gays and drag performers in the region will support both The Club and The Lodge. Because of liquor laws, The Club can stay open an hour later (until 3 a.m.) on Saturday nights whereas the Lodge closes at 2.

“I think it’s great,” Stagner says. “If people want to go here one night they can, or they may do like we used to do in the old days. As soon as they called last call at Deer Park, we used to bail from Hagerstown and come down here to Gatsby’s once they closed the bars in Hagerstown.”

Last Saturday night at about 10 p.m., The Club had a healthy crowd though it wasn’t packed. The space is mammoth — there’s a large dance area, stage, bar, tables, seating area, downstairs pool room, kitchen and a huge outdoor patio and bar Brooks says they “can’t wait” to use once the weather gets warmer.

“It reminds me of the old Tracks in D.C.,” he says. “There’s so much potential for this space.”

All the interiors have been redecorated since it was Ambitions. The hardwood dance floor, Brooks says, is the one original component — it dates to the 1950s.

A diverse crowd mills about including 20- and 30-ish gay guys, a few older gay men, a few lesbians and a drag queen or two. A few dance, but not many. It’s still early. Several make trips up and down the half-flight of stairs to take smoke breaks. The pool room is less opulent, but the smokers don’t seem to mind. Large industrial smoke eaters keep the room clean and from upstairs it’s impossible to tell there’s smoke in the building.

Gish says the region is large enough that gays are coming from Winchester, Va.; Cumberland, Md.; even Greencastle and Chambersburg, Pa., and that The Club will thrive. Gays from Baltimore or D.C. who want a change of scenery even visit on occasion, he says.

“We’re seeing our weekend door counts increase every weekend,” Gish says. “I think it will only improve as the weather warms.”

There are about 12 on staff but DJs and drag performers are independent contractors. Brooks says they’re seeing about 200 come through the doors on an average Saturday night. A few times it’s gotten close to 300. It’s open Wednesday through Saturday and on weekends there’s a $5 cover. Eighteen-to-20-year-olds can get in anytime but have to pass Breathalyzer tests when they come and go. Gish guesses about 20 percent of the clientele might be “some variation of straight” and says the crowd, because of the smaller overall numbers, is more integrated than in city bars. He says straights, lesbians, bears and twinks all party together here.

Despite rumors of bad blood between The Club and The Lodge, the owners of the latter say they bear no ill will.

“It’s really not a question of competition, it doesn’t matter how many there are in the area, there are more than enough [LGBT people] to go around,” Velazquez says. “So far business has stayed good for us and been pretty good for them. Whether it stays that way, time will tell.”

He says there are even some unexpected benefits at times.

Of The Lodge’s drag cast, Velazquez says he encourages them to perform at other bars.

“They get fans who will then follow them from show to show and we have some people who only show up for the drag shows, so it’s good for them to be out at different bars in the area,” he says. “I have no problem with it. It’s a free world. If I wanted to have them sign an exclusivity contract, I would, but we don’t.”

There are also a few gay-owned restaurants in the region — the Gourmet Goat and Georgia Boys Café in Hagerstown, and Café Izmir in nearby Funkstown, Md.

The Goat, (41 North Potomac Street), has been in its present location for seven years and is known for its vast array of martinis. Owners Steve Cook and Paul Deputy live on site and run it “very much hands on,” Deputy says.

Café Izmir is owned by Nihal Mizah, who’s straight. The cafe became an LGBT destination of sorts during the time The Lodge was closed. Lesbian Karla Auch helps her manage it.

Gish says he thinks it’s more than a coincidence. Although these areas, he says, will never have the large gay communities Baltimore and Washington have, there are LGBT people here and he says they’re more comfortable being out and open than they were even a decade ago.

“I think there’s a social change happening,” he says. “And not just in the media, but in families too and the culture in general. It’s becoming more accepted to be gay and be open about it, or lesbian, or bi or trans or whatever you are. Society is becoming more accepting and these business owners want to pursue their dreams without feeling that they’re going to be persecuted. I know all these business owners and I support them all and wish them the best.”

Gay candidate loses Dupont Circle ANC race

Dupont Circle Fountain

A little-noticed race for a vacant ANC seat in Dupont Circle was held Wednesday. (Blade file photo by Michael Key)

Restaurant manager Dito Sevilla, who’s gay, lost his bid for a seat on the Dupont Circle Advisory Neighborhood Commission Wednesday night to civic activist Abigail Nichols by a vote of 34 to 12.

The two candidates competed in a special election to fill a vacant seat in ANC Single Member District 2B05, which includes part of the 17th Street, N.W., commercial strip where three gay bars and a gay restaurant are located.

Although ANC districts include about 2,000 residents, the turnout Wednesday night of just 46 voters was considered especially low, even for special ANC elections, which are known for attracting far fewer voters than regularly scheduled elections.

The election was held at ANC 2B’s regularly scheduled monthly meeting at the Brookings Institution headquarters on Massachusetts Avenue.

Sevilla, the manager at Floriana Restaurant on 17th Street and a nearby resident of 17th Street, said he would work hard on behalf of the residents while pushing for policies that allow businesses, including what he described as resident-friendly restaurants and bars, to thrive as part of a vibrant neighborhood.

Nichols said one of her concerns is the negative impact on residents in some parts of the district by noise and other problems associated with bars and nightclubs. She pointed to her role as founder of the Alcohol Sanity Coalition D.C., which advocates for more restrictions on businesses licensed to sell alcoholic beverages.

Nightlife advocates, both gay and straight, expressed concern that Nichols would push for overly restrictive policies and actions that would hurt nightlife businesses, including restaurants and bars. She told the Blade she would advocate for a “balanced” approach in addressing issues of concern to residents and businesses.

Sevilla, said he, too, favors a balanced approach but expressed concern that Nichols would likely push for policies that would have a negative impact on nightlife businesses at a time when several storefront spaces on 17th Street are vacant due to businesses that have closed or moved to other locations.

One source familiar with ANC 2B, who spoke on condition of not being identified, said that while Nichols is clearly viewed by insiders as an ally of a shrinking faction that opposes nightlife businesses, she will be outnumbered by a majority of ANC 2B members who won election last November who are supportive of nightlife businesses.

“So while Nichols marks a big swing from Victor Wexler [the former ANC 2B05 commissioner who resigned], the overall makeup of ANC 2B is more hospitable to business and nightlife,” the source said.

Gay man seeks Dupont ANC seat Wednesday

Dupont Circle Fountain

A little-noticed race for a vacant ANC seat in Dupont Circle will be held Wednesday. (Blade file photo by Michael Key)

Gay restaurant manager Eduardo “Dito” Sevilla and civic activist Abigail Nichols have expressed differing views on the city’s liquor licensing policies and nightlife issues in a little-noticed race for a vacant seat on the Dupont Circle Advisory Neighborhood Commission.

The new commissioner for the ANC’s Single Member District 2B05, which covers most of the 17th Street, N.W., commercial and residential strip near Dupont Circle, will be chosen in a special election Wednesday, March 13, between 7:15 and 9:30 p.m. during the ANC’s regularly scheduled meeting at the Brookings Institution, 1775 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.

District 2B05 stretches from Q Street, N.W., between 15th and 17th streets on its northern boundary along part of 18th Street at Massachusetts Avenue to Pennsylvania Avenue, almost to the White House gate, as ANC observers like to point out.

Sevilla has worked since 2004 as restaurant and bar manager at Floriana’s, a popular restaurant on the 1600 block of 17th Street, N.W. in the heart of the 17th Street commercial strip. Sevilla also lives on 17th Street one block from where he works.

Nichols has lived a few blocks away on 18th Street near Connecticut Avenue for 33 years, according to information posted on her website. She has worked for 20 years as a policy analyst and manager at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

She serves as treasurer of the D.C. Chapter of the League of Women Voters and is co-founder of the Alcohol Sanity Coalition D.C., a recently formed group that, according to its website, favors stricter city regulations over bars, restaurants and nightclubs. She has also served as chair of an ANC 2B committee that monitors liquor licensing issues.

In an interview published by the Dupont Circle news and civic blog Borderstan, Nichols said she didn’t have a position on one of the most contentious issues facing the Dupont Circle ANC — whether a longstanding city-enforced moratorium preventing new businesses with liquor licenses from opening along the 17th Street strip should be continued or allowed to expire.

She said she would study the issue and talk to residents before making a decision on the matter when it comes up before the ANC later this year.

Sevilla, when asked about liquor moratoriums by Borderstan, said he doesn’t discuss moratoriums. He told the Blade on Saturday that he personally favors allowing the 17th Street moratorium to expire. But he said he would recuse himself from voting on the issue if he’s elected to the ANC because his job at Floriana’s, which has a liquor license, would be viewed as a conflict of interest.

Ironically, Sevilla said, a continuation of the moratorium would be advantageous to Floriana’s and all other existing bars and restaurants on 17th Street —  including three gay bars and a gay restaurant — because it prevents competitors from opening. However, as a resident and concerned citizen of the neighborhood, he said ending the moratorium would improve the area by allowing responsible and “resident-friendly” restaurants and cafes to open in several spaces along the street that have been vacant for a long time.

“I think a little café or a bakery that served beer wouldn’t be the worst thing on earth,” he said. “It would be better than the vacant spaces that have been left there.”

The moratorium is scheduled to expire later this year unless the city’s Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration (ABRA) renews it. Under city law, ABRA makes the final decision but is required to give “great weight” to the views of ANCs.

Nightlife advocates, both gay and straight, have expressed concern over Nichols’ positions on liquor licensing issues as the lead spokesperson for her group Alcohol Sanity Coalition D.C. The group opposed a number of provisions in a City Council bill last year seeking to reform the city’s liquor law.

One of the provisions Nichols opposed called for disqualifying ad hoc groups of as few as five citizens from having legal standing to challenge a liquor license application or renewal of an existing license if the applicant and the ANC reach an agreement and the ANC approves the application.

D.C. Council observers say support for the provision in the liquor bill to restrict the powers of small, ad-hoc groups to block liquor licenses emerged from a bitter fight over a proposal by Hank’s Oyster Bar, a popular seafood restaurant at 17th and Q Streets, N.W., to expand its outdoor patio.

An ad hoc group blocked the proposal for several years, even though nearly all nearby residents and the 17th Street community as a whole supported the patio expansion, according to residents familiar with the dispute. In December, over the objections of Alcohol Sanity Coalition D.C., the Council voted to retain the provision restricting the authority of ad-hoc groups to challenge licenses. The Council passed the bill itself by a unanimous vote.

Sevilla said Nichols, who lives in a condo building just off Connecticut Avenue next to a bustling commercial area where nightclubs and bars are located, appears ready to support overly restrictive regulations on all businesses with a liquor license on the entire ANC district.

“We don’t have the issues on 17th Street that she has where she lives,” Sevilla said. “I absolutely believe in my heart of hearts that [the moratorium] should be discontinued. I think some people like to jump on a bandwagon that lifting the moratorium would immediately turn us into Adams Morgan,” he said.

“I think that is a little bit alarmist and ridiculous,” said Sevilla. “Seventeenth Street is not 18th Street [in Adams Morgan]. We don’t have that many commercial spaces…It’s just two or three new spaces that could take hold.”

Nichols disputed claims that she would impose excessive restrictions on bars and restaurants located in ANC 2B.

She told the Blade on Monday that the Hank’s Oyster Bar case was not a representative example of how groups of five citizens handle ABC license challenges. She said she has organized groups of five residents in her apartment building that negotiated agreements with at least seven bars or nightclubs after the groups of five filed a protest, or challenge, to the club’s liquor license application.

“We say up front that we do not want to stop them from opening,” Nichols said. “Our objective is to work out a common sense agreement to cut down the noise.” In several cases, she said, the agreements called for the clubs, whose main entrances are on Connecticut Avenue, to close their rear entrances on 18th Street at 10:30 p.m. Her apartment building, the Palladium at 1325 18th Street, is close to the clubs’ rear entrances and subjected to noise by patrons entering or leaving the clubs, she said.

“We don’t blame the owners, who usually run good businesses, she said. “But you can’t avoid noise from liquor serving establishments, and that’s why you need these agreements.”

“Voters should ask both of us about the positions we already hold and whether we have any conflicts of interest that might affect our ANC service,” she told Borderstan. “How would we handle such conflicts?”

The ANC 2B05 seat became vacant when incumbent Victor Wexler, who was running for re-election last year unopposed, dropped out of the race in October due to a back ailment. It was too late to remove his name from the ballot in the November election.

Nichols announced her candidacy as a write-in candidate for the seat, but it was uncertain whether most voters were aware that Wexler had dropped out of the race. He received 530 votes; 112 votes were cast for a write-in candidate, which was presumed to have been Nichols.

New tastes for spring

cherry blossoms, spring, gay news, Washington Blade

(Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

Spring is right around the corner, and at least in this foodie’s mind, that means more eating out. This spring there are many new restaurants opening around town, giving us all the chance to taste something new and hopefully worthwhile.

Bryan Voltaggio’s Range is now opened for lunch starting at 11:30 a.m. seven days a week. The lunch menu is a three-course tasting menu featuring the most popular options available at Range. If you haven’t been able to get a reservation for dinner, try Range for lunch. [see our previous review of Range here]

Art and Soul (415 New Jersey Ave NW) reopened after a month-long renovation, now with a fresh new look and fresh menu items by gay chef and owner Art Smith.

In February, partners Daisuke Utagawa, Yama Jewayni and Katsuya Fukushima opened Daikaya (705 6th Street). The first floor Sapporo-style ramen restaurant was the first phase to open and in March they will be opening up the second floor, izakaya.

The Gryphon (1337 Connecticut Ave NW) has opened in Dupont Circle; this 5000 square-foot eatery is the marriage of a gastro pub and upscale sports bar. Executive Chef Joseph Evans will be serving up hearty yet refined plates that are modern versions of classic bar food. This closet lover of bar food is excited to try out what The Gryphon has to offer.

Late this spring, D.C. is expecting another Mike Isabella eatery with Kapnos (2201 14th Street NW). Kapnos will draw its inspiration from Northern Greece; dinner will begin with a choice of carvings from whole animals that have been spit-roasted the entire day. Along with Kapnos, Mike Isabella is opening G next door, which will serve Italian sandwiches, soups and salads for lunch six days a week (maybe I will finally be able to find the perfect Chicken Parmesan sandwich) and at night it will feature a four course tasting menu.

On March 15, Marjorie Meeks-Bradley becomes the executive chef of Ripple (3417 Connecticut Ave NW). Meeks-Bradley will replace Roger Marmet. The menu will continue to be creative American cuisine prepared with only the finest local and seasonal ingredients.

Foursquare

On Foursquare? Add many of these eateries to your To-Do list, and connect with the Blade to always be in the know.

The 101st annual Cherry Blossom Festival returns to D.C. from March 20 until April 14 and many D.C. restaurants are helping celebrate the festival with creative cherry-inspired cocktails or meals.

Tel’Veh Café and Wine Bar (401 Massachusetts Ave NW) is offering a $35 prix fixe menu to coincide with the festival including a baked cod in a cherry sauce.

Oyamel Cocina Mexicana (401 7th Street NW) is pouring “La Japonesa” during the festival. This drink is made from a combination of tequila, cherry liqueur, cherry blossom soda and lime.

Jaleo (480 7th Street NW) will be serving up the Sakura D.C., a cocktail comprised of gin, cherry blossom syrup and Triple sec. [See our previous review of Jaleo here]

Newly opened Ambar (523 8th Street SE) is offering a special dessert prepared by Serbian-born pastry chef Danilo Bucan during the festival. The Cherry and Valerona Chocolate Cake is made with Cherry Foam and served with Micro Basil.

Astro Donuts and Fried Chicken (1308 G Street NW) is scheduled to open in mid-to-late March and openly gay chef Jason Gehring will be setting the menu for this creative establishment. My sweet tooth is excited to sit down with Chef Gehring and try out some of the gourmet donuts this establishment will be serving up. (Look for a review and chef profile here soon).

From March 31 until May 5, Jose Andres and his team at Zaytinya  (701 9th Street NW) will be celebrating Greek Easter with a menu inspired by traditional Greek Orthodox Easter and Lenten meals reimagined including Lachonsalata, Zatinya’s own take on traditional shredded cabbage and carrot salad and Clam Stew from Lefkada.

In April, NoPa Kitchen+Bar (800 F Street NW) will be opening with Chef Greg McCarty as the executive chef. This restaurant is American Brasserie style and guests can expect fresh vegetables, as well as select meats and fish prepared with a touch of French style to dominate the menu.

This is just a select preview of a few of the many opening, specials and new chefs in Washington. As always, the D.C. restaurant scene is bustling and ever changing.

Jay Schmidt, 67

Jay Schmidt, Tracks, gay news, Washington Blade, obituary

Jay Schmidt

James Jay Schmidt, a popular bartender for more than 25 years at several D.C. nightclubs, including Tracks and Nation, died of natural causes in September in his Dupont Circle area apartment. He was 67.

Schmidt, who was gay, was among the most well-known and liked bartenders at Tracks from the time the club opened at 1111 First Street, S.E., in 1984 until it closed its doors in 1999, according to his longtime friend and fellow Tracks bartender Patrick Little.

“As a bartender Jay always greeted his customers with a smile and a handshake,” Little wrote in a Facebook page associated with a planned Tracks reunion party in April. “He was a very old school bartender and always remembered your drink.”

Little said scores of customers got to know Schmidt each week as he worked at the bar closest to the entrance of the sprawling club that operated in a renovated warehouse. As it transitioned from a mostly gay club to a mixed clientele on different nights, with a Gothic and “industrial” music crowd, Schmidt’s relaxed and friendly demeanor made him popular with all of the club’s varied customers, Little said.

“In a sea of 2,000 people – the bar is totally busy – and on a Saturday night you walk up to Jay’s bar and there is your tequila sunrise, the same thing you ordered six months ago the last time you came in,” said Little.

“And he remembered you, shook your hand, looked you in the face. He said, hey, how are you doing and really cared. That’s the kind of man he was.”

Marty Chernoff, the owner and founder of Tracks, called Schmidt “an absolutely wonderful person” and dedicated employee.

“It’s so sad,” he said of Schmidt’s passing. “He was loved by so many people.”

Little and Schmidt’s sister, Trudie Wetherall, said Schmidt had a number of interests outside his bartending work. Classical music, pipe organs and books about history and music were among his passions, the two said.

He was born in Abington, Pa., and raised in nearby Pottstown, Pa., according to Wetherall. She said he graduated from The Hill Prep School in Pottstown and graduated in 1967 from Duke University.

Wetherall said Schmidt took an interest in his family’s Scottish ancestry, including the family’s belief that he was a descendant of a signer of the Declaration of Independence from Pennsylvania whose parents came to colonial America from Scotland.

“He sometimes wore a Scottish kilt and did Scottish country dancing,” said Wetherall. “He was very proud of his Scottish heritage.”

In keeping with his love for organs and organ music, shortly after graduating from college, Schmidt landed a job with the Moller Organ Company, which was nationally known for building and maintaining church pipe organs throughout the country. Wetherall said he moved to New York City to work at one of the company’s facilities that built and tuned pipe organs for some of the city’s most famous churches.

“He ascended in that business working in sales and ultimately as a hands-on tuner at a few pipe organs in large churches in Manhattan,” Little said.

Little said he met Schmidt after Schmidt moved to D.C. and began working as a bartender at Tracks at the time Tracks first opened in 1984. When Tracks closed its doors in 1999 to make way for a new office building, Schmidt continued his bartending at the nearby nightclub Nation, which featured the popular gay dance party known as Velvet Nation.

When Nation closed in 2006, Schmidt tended bar at D.C.’s Club Five until 2008 and “was last seen behind the bar at an alternative dance party called Revolution until 2011,” according to Little.

Little said he and others organizing the Tracks reunion party plan to hold a memorial gathering in Schmidt’s honor during the weekend of April 26-28, when several events related to the reunion take place. He said details of the memorial would be released soon.

Wetherall said she is planning a family memorial for Schmidt sometime in the spring at a location near her home in Monkton, Md., and would announce details of that gathering in the near future.

Gay couple seeks to block U St. liquor licenses

Marc Morgan, Log Cabin Republicans, Republican Party, gay news, Washington Blade

Gay Republican activist Marc Morgan said a moratorium on liquor licenses would hurt economic development in his area. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Gay former Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Ramon Estrada and his partner, civic activist Elwyn Ferris, are playing a key role in what many believe will be a heated battle over whether the city should ban all new bars and restaurants with liquor licenses from opening in the rapidly developing 14th and U streets, N.W. corridor.

The recently formed Shaw-Dupont Citizens Alliance, for which Ferris serves as secretary and Estrada is a member, and the lesser known Residential Action Coalition, filed a petition in December with the city’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Board calling for the moratorium.

Gay nightlife advocates, who strongly oppose such a moratorium, acknowledge that the proposal isn’t directed at gay bars or the gay community. But similar to their straight counterparts, they say the proposal would stifle economic development in a vibrant area where large numbers of LGBT people have moved because they embrace the nightlife amenities.

Neither Estrada nor Ferris returned a call from the Blade seeking their views on the issue.

Joan Sterling, president of Shaw-Dupont Citizens Alliance, said Estrada and Ferris are working with her in advocating for the moratorium. She said the moratorium is needed to help reverse what she believes is an alarming rise in crime, parking problems, trash and neighborhood disturbances due to the “over concentration” of liquor serving establishments.

“The issuance of further licenses in the zone would only exacerbate the problems that already affect our neighborhood,” said Sterling, who co-signed the 18-page petition her group and the Residential Action Coalition filed Dec. 10 with the ABC Board.

Opponents of the moratorium have lined up close to 800 people who signed an online petition urging the ABC Board to reject the proposal. Many of them, including gay nightlife advocate Mark Lee, argue that it’s unfair to blame all or most of the crime and other neighborhood problems on bars and restaurants.

They note that existing liquor license moratoriums in Georgetown, Dupont Circle, and Adams Morgan have not curtailed the problems they were supposed to address and, in some instances, resulted in vacant buildings that could have been occupied by restaurants.

“The Logan Circle, U Street and Shaw neighborhoods with large numbers of gay and lesbian residents overwhelmingly support the diverse dining, socializing and entertainment options we enjoy much more than we are willing to tolerate a tiny pseudo citizens group claiming to represent us while pressing for a liquor license moratorium,” Lee told the Blade.

“We don’t want to freeze development in a huge swath of our city with a rapidly growing population,” he said. “We want existing venues to grow and new establishments opening to meet rising demand and attracting other retail businesses…We want to preserve the vibrant community life that caused us to make these areas our home.”

Lee is a regular Blade columnist.

Sterling dismisses these arguments, saying there are 107 existing liquor licenses in the proposed moratorium zone.

“How can anyone claim this won’t remain a vibrant area for bars and restaurants?” she said.

The proposed moratorium would cover a circular area with an 1,800 foot radius, with the middle of the 1200 block of U Street being at the center. Small sections of neighborhoods in Dupont Circle, Logan Circle and Shaw would be covered along with U Street between 15th Street and 8th Street and surrounding streets.

In its northern most point, the area would extend to Clifton Street and its southern boundary would extend to R Street.

Gay ANC Commissioner Alexander Padro, who also serves as executive director of the community group Shaw Main Streets, Inc., said the proposed moratorium’s ban on new restaurants would have a harmful impact on Shaw.

“Restaurants are an important part of the quality of life that residents are seeking and supporting with their dollars,” he told the Blade. “Making it impossible for a newly constructed or newly vacant retail space to house a restaurant or bar could result in a long-term vacancy that would have serious repercussions for the property owner and the community.”

Under provisions of the city’s liquor law, the ABC Board is required to give “great weight” to the views of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions on liquor licensing matters, including a proposed moratorium. Padro’s ANC, ANC 6E; ANC 1B, which covers the 14th and U Street area; ANC 2F of Logan Circle, and 2B of Dupont Circle will all be weighing in on whether or not the moratorium should be approved.

Representatives of each of the four ANCs told the Blade they are currently assessing the views of the residents of their districts on the matter. Matt Raymond, chair of ANC 2F, and Noah Smith, a member of ANC 2B whose district is within the proposed moratorium area, said the four ANCs may hold a joint public hearing on the moratorium proposal in the next month or two.

“If we come to similar conclusions, our great weight will be ever greater with the ABC Board,” Smith said.

Gay Republican activist Marc Morgan, who was re-elected in November to his ANC 1B01 seat, said he too believes a moratorium would hurt businesses and economic development in his ANC area.

“We want to come up with a strong plan to address the problems raised by the advocates for a moratorium,” he said. “I don’t think a moratorium is the best way to address those problems.”

None of the ANC officials contacted by the Blade were willing to predict how their commissions would vote on the moratorium. However, sources familiar with the ANCs impacted by the moratorium have said at least three of the four ANCs are leaning against such a moratorium and would likely vote to oppose it.

If the ABC Board should vote to deny the moratorium petition, the matter would end, according to observers familiar with the process. However, if the board votes to approve it, the D.C. City Council has the authority to make the final decision on the matter.

Gay D.C. City Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), who chairs the committee that oversees liquor licensing matters and in whose ward most of the moratorium zone is located, said he wants to hear from his constituents on the issue before taking a position. Council member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) feels it is “premature” to weigh in on the issue, according to his communications director Mark Bjorge.

Kathryn Eckles, president of the Residential Action Coalition, told the Blade that although she and her group strongly support the moratorium, the RAC did not hold a meeting to officially vote to file the moratorium petition with the ABC Board.

ABC licensing consultant Andrew Kline, who specializes in liquor licensing and liquor law issues, said the law requires organizations filing a petition seeking a liquor license moratorium to hold a meeting with an advance notice to give all members of the organization an opportunity to vote on the issue.

It couldn’t immediately be determined whether the RAC’s apparent failure to hold a meeting to vote on the issue would disqualify the group from having legal standing to file the petition.

Police mum about suspect in theft of Blades

Washington Blade, gay news, anti-gay, vandalism

(Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

D.C. police have so far declined to confirm whether they have tracked down the license plate number of a car driven by a suspect that multiple witnesses have said is systematically removing bundles of the Washington Blade and Metro Weekly magazine from distribution boxes throughout the city.

Blade publisher Lynne Brown said she and others have given the license plate number of a white Toyota Camry and a description of its middle age, white male driver to the police Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit. She has not heard back about whether police have traced the identity of the driver or owner of the car, Brown said.

Witnesses say the license plate on the car in question is a Maryland vanity plate with the letters “JS.”

“Theft of all bundles of Washington Blade newspapers from their street boxes around the city continues,” Brown told GLLU Officer Justin Markiewicz in a Jan. 10 email. “It happens weekly. It happens in different neighborhoods. It most often happens, by eyewitness accounts, early Friday mornings.”

D.C. police spokesperson Gwendolyn Crump said she would look into the matter this week but did not immediately respond on Wednesday.

Inquires about the status of a possible police investigation into the removal of large quantities of the two LGBT publications from their distribution boxes follows reports in September that Blade and Metro Weekly boxes also were being vandalized in the Dupont Circle, Logan Circle and 17th Street gay entertainment areas.

Brown said one or more suspects have been systematically breaking a clear plastic clip that holds a single issue of the Blade in the window of the distribution boxes, allowing readers to view the front page of the paper to find out when the new edition is delivered each Friday. She said the vandalism is continuing.

Metro Weekly co-publishers Sean Bugg and Randy Shulman didn’t reply to a Blade email seeking comment this week.

In a Metro Weekly story in September about the vandalism and thefts, Bugg said one or more vandals had deposited trash and human or animal feces in some of the LGBT publication’s boxes. The article, in which Bugg described the vandalism as an anti-LGBT hate crime, said Metro Weekly was expending large sums of money to clean and sterilize the distribution boxes, only to have the perpetrator or perpetrators vandalize the same boxes again.

Brown said GLLU members have told her informally that the removal of a free newspaper from a distribution box doesn’t appear to fall under the definition of a theft, even if large quantities of the paper are taken. Brown said she was told that the United States Attorney’s office was being consulted to advise police over whether a suspect could be arrested and prosecuted for removing a free publication from a distribution box.

“I would like the owner of the car identified and an arrest warrant sworn out,” she said.

William Miller, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office, said he would make inquiries about whether prosecutors in his office were looking into the matter.

Brian Moore, an aide to D.C. City Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large), said Mendelson would be open to studying whether the Council should consider legislation to make it illegal to remove large quantities of a free newspaper or other publications from distribution boxes.

The Metro Weekly article suggested that the motive behind the removal of large quantities of the magazine from its boxes appeared to be anti-LGBT animus in at least some of the cases because stacks of the magazines were found in city trash cans near the site of the boxes.

Brown said another possible motive could be the potential sale of bulk quantities of newspapers to recycling centers that pay for newspapers. An aide to D.C. Council member Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3), who monitors the city’s recycling programs for Cheh’s Council Committee on Transportation and the Environment, said most commercial recycling centers don’t pay for newspapers unless they are delivered in quantities of at least one or more tons, making it difficult for an individual to carry out such a task in a private car or even a small truck.

“The police have been polite and helpful,” Brown said. “However the message has been this is a low, low level of priority.”

Several factors contributed to Omega closing

Omega, gay bar, LGBT nightlife, gay news, Washington Blade

Omega in 2009 (Washington Blade file photo by Henry Linser)

A few more details emerged this week about the closing of long-time Dupont Circle-based gay bar Omega, although specifics of who purchased the property remain undisclosed.

Perry Morehouse, who started there as a bartender 35 years ago and was its general manager for about the last 20 years, said this week he doesn’t know specifics other than that “it was sold to two guys that are gonna make it their private residence.” As for the sudden closing, he said it was explained to him that the business, which opened as The Fraternity House on Sept. 1, 1976 according to Mark Meinke of Rainbow History Project, had to be dissolved and moved out by year’s end.

Morehouse concurs it is unfortunate that such a long-time staple of D.C. gay nightlife didn’t get to have a closing night party as other former D.C. gay bars and clubs have done, but said the decision was beyond his control.

“I wasn’t involved in the decision at all,” Morehouse said. “I think with the people involved, it had to be closed before the end of the year. It’s just a guess, but it may have been a tax issue, I’m not sure.”

Morehouse said the building/business had been for sale since May. It was located at the rear of 2122 P Street, NW, the address it used in its promotions, though the technical address was 2123 Twining Court, NW.

“We just always used that in our advertising and such because nobody knew where Twining Court was, but everybody knows P Street,” Morehouse said.

He also said owner Glen Thompson, a Delaware resident who also owned the nearby gay bar/club Apex (now closed) and former Rehoboth Beach, Del.,-based gay club Renegade, declined to answer questions about the business or why it was sold. Morehouse declined to comment on the degree to which Thompson was involved in the business.

Morehouse did, however, offer his own thoughts. He said business had been “a lot slower” in recent years.

“I attribute it to a couple things,” he told the Blade. “One, the gay demographic has moved farther east … it got to where it was hard to get people to cross over to the west side of the Circle. Second, we were mainly a cruise bar and in the advent of the internet, it really hurt some of that. Suddenly you can go online and pull up a thousand people in D.C., Maryland and Virginia all looking for a date. They all used to be at the bar.”

Morehouse said while certain specials — like their “shirtless men drink free” nights on Wednesdays — remained popular, it’s untenable to run such specials all the time.

“You can’t give the bar away every night,” he said. “People go where the specials are. We were popular on Wednesdays. Green Lantern had theirs on Thursdays. JR.’s is popular on Sunday afternoons. The bears go to bear happy hour, but most of them don’t go out other nights. It’s just the way things are with demographics now.”

He also said gay assimilation into mainstream society has taken a toll on traditional gay watering holes and hang-out spots.

“Twenty years ago, gay people went to gay bars to hang out with other gay people and I don’t think you have that as much anymore,” Morehouse said. “People used to go to Annie’s because you could be with your own kind. Now, five gay men can go have dinner together anywhere and not feel out of place. I’ve even seen two guys out on the dance floor at a straight bar and hardly anyone looks sideways, especially in D.C. People don’t feel uncomfortable out like they used to. They feel they can let their hair down just about anywhere now.”

According to D.C. property records, the Twining Court location was sold to Thompson in 2005 for $2 million. Morehouse confirmed that prior to that, the location was rented. Sales records have not yet been posted for the current transaction, but the property has a proposed 2013 value of $2.2 million. It’s registered as a historic carriage house in Washington, a point Morehouse said had little impact on their ability to use it as a bar. He said about 15 employees were on staff, not counting contract employees such as DJs.

“A lot of people worked there a long time,” he said. “We had a couple bartenders who were there 15 to 20 years, so there’s quite a few that had worked there quite awhile.”

Morehouse said the name was changed to Omega “probably 16 or 17 years ago” though the reason for the change was “something I honestly don’t know.”

Morehouse informed employees Dec. 26 of the closing. Its website initially remained live but now a blank black screen appears at omegadc.com.

Deacon Maccubbin, owner of now-closed gay bookstore Lambda Rising, said in an e-mail that “we’ll miss seeing Perry behind the upstairs bar.” He and partner James Bennett met there when it was The Fraternity House.

“So it’s held a fond spot in our memories for 35 years,” Maccubbin wrote.

Washington Blade staff writer Lou Chibbaro Jr. contributed to this report.