JP’s layout could “change the nature of nude dancing” in DC, WaPo says

The imminent reopening of JP’s Night Club (2412 Wisconsin Ave.) could herald a citywide increase in strip-club sleaze, reports the Washington Post. Plans for the club, recently rebuilt after a 2008 fire, include dance platforms in “private alcoves” that might invite incursions into the required three-foot distance between entertainers and patrons, critics say. “Washington has one of the cleanest strip club attitudes in the whole nation,” said a source identified by the Post as a “dismayed competitor.” “This is going to change the whole city. If they allow this to open, I assure you other clubs will follow suit. You don’t want Washington to become like Las Vegas.”

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Mason Inn, ANC close to deal on rooftop deck

From the May 2013 edition of the Glover Park Gazette:

Rooftop drinks may be in the offing at The Mason Inn (2408 Wisconsin). On April 24, the day the ABC Board was scheduled to hold a hearing on the bar’s application for permission to serve liquor on a new rooftop deck, co-owner Fritz Brogan and ANC commissioner Jackie Blumenthal each emailed the Board asking for extra time. “We are close to a settlement agreement, but a technical matter cannot be resolved quickly,” Blumenthal wrote. The protest hearing has been rescheduled for May 29.

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JP’s opening slides to June

From the May 2013 edition of the Glover Park Gazette:

Construction delays have pushed the reopening of JP’s Night Club (2412 Wisconsin Ave.) into June, says managing partner Phil Mathew. “Things happen, minor things, like the lead time for a light fixture could be a little longer than expected,” Mathew says. “I’m not settling for mediocrity when it comes to our build-out. I want it to look exactly like the architect’s rendering.”

The decades-old strip club is being rebuilt after a January, 2008 fire destroyed its original building. The new interior will look like “more of a high-end lounge than a gentleman’s club,” Mathew says. “It’s well-lit, it’s not anything seedy.” The space will feature black walls with TVs in light oak frames, with a dark custom-made wood bar, he adds. The club’s staff will total about 30 people, including dancers, servers, and security personnel.

The club’s liquor license is currently in a dormant status called “safekeeping”; it must be reactivated before the club can operate. Once that happens, Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3B and near neighbors will be allowed to lodge formal protests of the license with the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, as they are certain to do.

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Liquor board denies ANC request for JP’s hearing

From the May 2013 edition of the Glover Park Gazette:

With JP’s Night Club (2412 Wisconsin Ave.) set to reopen this month,
ANC 3B asked the liquor board to allow a formal protest of its license,
on the grounds that the club’s floor plan constituted a substantial
change to the strip club’s operation, compared to its operation before
it was shuttered by a January 2008 fire. On April 17, the board decided
not to allow a separate protest period triggered by the floor plan. The
club is already due to face a protest period as soon as its license—now
in a dormant state called “safekeeping”—is reactivated. “Substantial
change will be determined by the board once the license comes out of
safekeeping,” the board ruled.

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Vixen condos for rent as office space

From the May 2013 edition of the Glover Park Gazette:

The vacant condominium units at 2136 Wisconsin Ave.,
which in 2009 housed an unlicensed party facility known as Wisconsin
Overlook and The Vixen, are being marketed as office rental units,
according to an online listing. The price per square foot per year is
$34.50, and each floor is advertised at 1,900 square feet. At press time,
all five floors were listed as available.

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Margarita’s liquor license cancelled

From the April 2013 edition of the Glover Park Gazette:

On February 20, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board cancelled the liquor license for Margarita’s Restaurant (formerly at 2317 Wisconsin, the current home of Sprig & Sprout). The licensee, Maria Villalta, closed Margarita’s several years ago. Lately, she has tried unsuccessfully to find a new location for her restaurant or a buyer for her license.

Under Glover Park’s liquor license moratorium, up to 14 restaurants in the neighborhood are allowed to have full-service restaurant (CR) licenses. At press time, the former Margarita’s license was one of two Glover Park CR licenses that were unused and unapplied-for, according to an Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration spokesman.

The closing of Mayfair & Pine (2218 Wisconsin Ave.) and Kavanagh’s Pizza Pub (2400 Wisconsin Ave.) has left two more Glover Park CR licenses idle, though the Kavanagh’s license will soon be put to use at Arcuri, a trattoria slated to open in late April. The liquor license for JP’s Night Club (2412 Wisconsin Ave.), expected to reopen in May, is a nightclub (CN) license.

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ANC seeks to block Mason Inn deck

In January, Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3B lodged a formal protest to the application of Mason Inn (2408 Wisconsin Ave.) to serve alcohol on a new rooftop deck. Citing a history that includes multiple assaults inside the bar and a pending charge of violating a noise ordinance, the ANC expressed doubt about the bar’s ability to maintain order outdoors.

“ANC 3B feels strongly that the Mason Inn’s long record of disturbing the peace, order and quiet of the neighborhood disqualifies it for the privilege of taking its business outside into public space,” wrote Commissioner Jackie Blumenthal in a letter to the chair of the ABC Board. “This is especially relevant given the close proximity of residences to the Mason Inn.” Other formal protests came from ANC 3C, which represents McLean Gardens and Massachusetts Avenue Heights; the Glover Park Citizens Association; and a group of 19 residents and property owners from the 2300 and 2400 blocks of 37th Street, represented by attorney Milton Grossman.

At the same time, many Glover Parkers expressed support of the roof deck plan. More than 150 neighborhood residents sent emails in favor of the deck. In addition, six residents (two sets of housemates) from nearby 37th Street submitted a letter strongly supporting the application, as did two Glover Parkers who live within blocks of the establishment. “It is clear that the ANC 3B is advocating their own agenda and not expressing the wishes of their constituents,” one of these letters states. “There is overwhelming support in the neighborhood for this application and there is talk that some residents may run against the ANC members due to their outrageous behavior.”

The ABC Board identified multiple groups, including ANC 3B, that have legal standing to protest the application. The Mason Inn will negotiate with these groups in an attempt to address their concerns in a modified license application. If a compromise can be reached, the protests will be withdrawn.

In the meantime, The Mason Inn received a warning letter from the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration after a December 1 incident in which a visibly intoxicated man was served alcohol at the bar. According to a police report, at about 2:20 a.m., a detective watched a man with very red eyes and slurred speech “stumble to the bar and, while leaning on the bar, order two Bud Light beers.” The bartender served the beers, which were immediately confiscated by the detective “in fear that [the patron] would consume them quickly and become more intoxicated,” the report states. Selling alcohol to drunk people is against D.C. law. The next such incident could lead to charges against the bar, ABRA’s warning letter states.

A hearing on The Mason Inn’s pending noise complaint is scheduled for April 3.

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Pearson’s to open 7 days

Pearson’s Wine & Spirits (2436 Wisconsin Ave.) will soon begin operating on Sundays, according to a store spokeswoman. Until now, the liquor store has been closed on Sundays, but on February 6, the ABC Board voted to allow it to open seven days a week. The store’s daily hours are 10 a.m. to 8:45 p.m.

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Breadsoda settles failure-to-report charge

On February 6, Breadsoda (2323 Wisconsin Ave.) paid a fine of $2,000 to settle charges that it had failed to file quarterly statements to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. As of August 21 of last year, the bar had not filed statements for the second quarter of 2010, the first quarter of 2011, or the second quarter of 2012.

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Margarita’s former owner fights for license

Maria Villalta, the owner of a dormant Glover Park liquor license, has been unable to sell the license, according to a letter her attorney sent the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board on December 31. Villalta used the license when she operated Margarita’s Restaurant at 2317 Wisconsin Ave., now the home of Sprig & Sprout. The ABC Board has said that they will cancel Villalta’s license unless she sells it or starts using it again herself.

Because she cannot find a buyer, Villalta has been “exploring the possibility of keeping the license and opening her own establishment,” the attorney’s letter states. She has been talking to the owner of the vacant tan condo building at 2136 Wisconsin Ave., three doors up from Monarch Paints, but the cost of constructing a kitchen there might be prohibitive. Villalta may seek to use the license in another part of DC, the letter states.

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