Saturday, December 13, 2008

Meeting Regarding 401 H Street

Announcement-

There will be a COMMUNITY MEETING about the proposed 6000 square foot nightclub at 401 H Street NE on Tuesday, December 16 at 7:00pm at Senate Square. ANC representatives, community protesters and the proprietor will be present and available to answer questions. Specific topics to be addressed include: SECURITY, NOISE, PARKING, TRASH and VERMIN CONTROL.

This will be one of the few opportunities for residents to voice their concerns, so everyone is encouraged to attend.

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Essentially this is a meeting about the proposed H Street Lounge. You can read more about the meeting, and the lounge, on the ANC6C05 blog.

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UPDATE
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Due an unforeseen issue the location for the Special Community Meeting
has been changed to 1005 H St NE. Tuesday, December 16 at 7:00pm

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

To be fair, neither the ANC commissioner or the business owner are calling this project a "nightclub," and the business owner is apparently willing to sign a volunteer agreement to that effect.

6,000 SF is relatively tiny, the capacity at 185 people is not very large, and they're planning on a real menu.

Anonymous said...

Was H20 a restaurant or nightclub? I think that almost everyone who went there would tell you that it was a nightclub. It had a restaurant licence. How about Zanzibar? same thing, it just recently got around to getting a nightclub licence. After a joint is licensed and open, it nearly impossible to close them unless someone is killed. ...and forget enforcement of noise, and litter laws (you should see the lewded postcards that cover anything not moving). Anyone who wants this place should visit Water street early Sunday morning, even though H20 has been closed down, and only Zanzibar is open.

Anonymous said...

it's all smoke and mirrors.

if you want a shithole nightclub on 400 h street, don't attend the meeting.

having said that, i have a feeling that folks are going to allow them to operate due to racial issues.

i'm just saying....

Anonymous said...

Anon 1:05pm -- if I was a neighbor of the place, I wouldn't care whether the ANC commissioner or the business owner are calling the project a nightclub; I'd care whether it actually *is* a nightclub. What it's called is utterly irrelevant to whether I'd want it nearby.

I'm bad at visualizing spaces; I don't know what 6000sf translates to, club wise. How does it compare to other places on H? How does 185 people compare to what you can fit into any of the other places on H? (presumably some, like R&R Hotel, fit a lot more, and some, like Palace of Wonders, a lot less)

As for the "real menu," they've said that this is their proposed menu. I'm sorry, but that's not a "real menu" -- that's just bar food. Not that there's anything wrong with bar food -- if it's not just microwaved when needed, bar food can really hit the spot -- but let's call it what it is.

8th and El said...

I don't know poo poo, it sounds more like a Pap and Petey's than a H20 to me. But I can see "jazz" acts turning to "R & B" acts, or even the dreaded "go-go" if the dude can't pay the rent.

If I had the ability to go to this thing, I would question who he knows in the jazz industry that he would book or get help to book for the place before saying yes or no to his jazz lounge/restaurant.

Anonymous said...

8th and El -- Do you (or anyone else, I guess) know how many sf Pap & Petey's has, and its max occupancy? I'm just trying to imagine how big this place would be; I can't picture it.

Anonymous said...

This is not a plan for another Pap n' Petey's. Duke Cross never suggested teaching youth valuable skills like "bartending and food preparation" in the basement.

Based on a rough guess from the outside, I'd say that 400H is about four times the size of PnP.

This guy is selling a "white-glove" dining experience and he posts bar food as a menu. He claims he wants a restaurant and than applies for a tavern license.

This sounds like Studio 400 all over again.

I'll be at that meeting.

Anonymous said...

I think a lot of the confusion is that the owner has not taken any steps required for opening the restuarant portion of the business. For instance, there is no food license, no commercial kitchen, etc. It's hard to take it seriously as a restaurant. I personally would love a nice restaurant at this end of the street (or even a great gastropub, etc.), but this seems a bit off.

I do know that the business plans call for a dance floor and stage. Given that this end is the "urban living" end of the street (as opposed to the "Arts and Entertainment" end), this doesn't seem to fit with the H Street overlay.

Anonymous said...

This sounds like another scam. 6000 sf(in my opinion)is huge for this neighborhood. I would guess(and it is only a guess) that P&P is about 1500 sf.

Anonymous said...

Remember XII. Enough said. Ask anyone that lives around this place if they think this place was a good idea? I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone.

Anonymous said...

It's a shame someone has to be shot in these places before they get shut down.

Anonymous said...

Uh, at this stage, this place sounds a lot more questionable than XII. XII actually operates a real restaurant with a menu significantly larger than just bar food. So far as I can tell, this new place sounds like just a nightclub, whatever term they want to call it.

Anonymous said...

No difference. How close do you live to XII? Do you hear the noise and see the trash that comes out of there -- trash refers to the litter, not the people.

Fortunatly I think its days are numbered and hopefully it will be before someone has to get shot to shut it down.

- NATS (Not A Twelves Supporter)

Anonymous said...

I live about three blocks away, so not that close. I ate there once, right when it first opened, and walk by it every night I go up to H. It's never seemed that bad to me, but I'm definitely willing to believe there's stuff I don't see. But certainly the menu at XII and the proposed menu for this new place bear little resemblance.

Anonymous said...

Que the 1,000 comments about XII. This was about 41 Hst wasn't it?
Cluck-U man stikes again.

Anonymous said...

6,000 SF is relatively tiny, the capacity at 185 people is not very large, and they're planning on a real menu.

Too bad he hasn't applied for a restaurant license. Or figured out where he's planning on putting a kitchen. The current "kitchen" is little more than an office break room.

Anonymous said...

having said that, i have a feeling that folks are going to allow them to operate due to racial issues.

Really? How do you know that? ABRA is pro-business, regardless of the race of the proprietors.

Anonymous said...

I'm bad at visualizing spaces; I don't know what 6000sf translates to, club wise.

I am thinking Chi Cha lounge is roughly the same size. Bourbon and Reef in AdMo might also fit the mold. H Street Lounge intends to have a roofdeck and sidewalk café.

Anonymous said...

You're right, Anon. 12:13, this post is about 401 H St., but with it's similarities to XII it would naturally spark comments about XII. As far as I'm concerned all these metropolitan juke joints around H St can just disappear and we'd be a better community because of it. I can't wait for XII to fold (which I'm hearing may be sooner than later) and I hope this 401 Lounge never sees the light of day.

Anonymous said...

not on parker: Really? I haven't been in Chi Cha, and I haven't been in Bourbon since it left Glover Park; but the Reef I have been in a couple of times, and that isn't "tiny." Not gawdawful enormous, but definitely not "tiny."

Anonymous said...

FWIW, I think XII and Studio 400 suffered from the same fatal business flaws -- 1.) little or no regard for the surrounding community and/or 2.) a crappy product.

I think XII's owner may (and I stress "may") have had more of a regard for his neighbors, but the food, service and overall look of the place smacked of mediocrity.

And Studio 400 was just a flat out public nuisance.

It seems to me that if any of these business owners want to succeed they are going to have to be nice to the surrounding community AND put forward a good product (not some crappy lounge with your standard bar food on the menu).

What amazes me is that we still seem to be attracting wannabe entrepenuers who think they can open the same old crappy DC lounge/go-go club in this area and succeed at it.

MESSAGE TO WANNABE CRAPPY NIGHTCLUB OWNERS -- STOP WASTING YOUR (OUR) TIME! YOUR JUST GOING TO WASTE A LOT OF MONEY BEFORE YOU EVENTUALLY GET SHUT DOWN OR GO OUT OF BUSINESS LIKE XII.

Anonymous said...

Rock and Roll Hotel minus its kitchen space is 6000 square feet

Anonymous said...

Annon 4:26,
What is a metropolitan juke joint?

Annon 4:39,
Give some examples of good night clubs v crappy night clubs.

Anonymous said...

The meeting location has CHANGED to 1005 H street, a place called Power Gym.

Anonymous said...

Another borderline racist, full-on elitist post. Please remind me, what are the demographics of this neighborhood? Why not let the market decide if the proposed business plan is not viable? If the owner’s plans for a restaurant are not viable, we can be certain he will go out of business fairly quickly. I for one could care less for Sticky Rice, Argonaut, or any of the other substandard venues that have opened in the neighborhood, but they seem to be doing pretty well despite my lack of affection. Perhaps the proposed restaurant will not be to your liking, but there might be some people in the neighborhood that will find them a welcome addition. You know if you have a problem with “urban” living, there are sections of the city (e.g. Georgetown, Adams Morgan, etc.) where you could easily limit your exposure to “urban” folk. Why not move there? Perhaps you, like the “urban” ppl, you have so much disdain for can’t afford it.

Anonymous said...

It's a BUNCH of sweethearts in here. Perhaps some of you folks will feel more comfy in Dupont Circle.