April 5, 2006
Black Cat Hopes to Conquer Great Outdoors
We couldn't help but be intrigued when we stumbled upon the following item listed on the agenda for Thursday night's ANC 1B meeting (emphasis ours).
ABRA Applications
- 71866 Sala Thai, Entertainment Endorsement
- 36085 Black Cat, Substantial Change
- Voluntary agreement review, El Paraiso Market
- Voluntary agreement review, Daily Fish of Chesapeake
- Voluntary agreement review, Eleven Market
Substantial changes? To one of our favorite music venues and venerable watering holes? Say it ain't so.
But wait a minute, we thought. An ABRA application means it's a substantial change to do with their liquor license, and the Cat already has a full bar. So either they're looking to change their operating hours (unlikely), or they're trying to serve alcohol outside. And indeed, a reliable neighborhood source tells us that is exactly what Black Cat is looking to do: The application is reportedly seeking permits to construct both a rooftop deck and a garden patio in the rear of the building.
No doubt these outdoor options would put the Black Cat in an enviable position come 2007, when the smoking ban officially comes into effect. By adding two new areas where alcohol could be consumed that could still be used by smokers (and, we suppose, plain old enthusiasts of fresh air), the venue would only be that much more of a destination spot for a whole lot of people.
It will be interesting to see who, if anyone, comes out against this petition at Thursday night's meeting (7 p.m. at the True Reformer Building). The Black Cat is situated on an entirely commercial stretch of 14th St. NW, meaning the number of neighbors with objections based on noise concerns would be minimal. Other nearby bars and restaurants closer to residential homes, such as U-Turn at the corner U and 11th Streets NW, have tried to establish outdoor seating areas in the recent past and encountered stiff opposition from neighbors. The only downside we can foresee right now is that a roof top patio may attract a few too many cast-offs from Local 16's already overcrowded seasonal roof bar, but that's probably a price worth paying.
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Anything but the weekend Local crowd. Anything.
I think the obvious intention is to create an area where their patrons can simultaneously smoke and drink while remaining in accordance with the 2007 smoking ban. While it's one thing for a bar patron to step outside, the prospect of numerous concert-goers doing the same thing, say, between acts, presents both a security and a customer service nightmare for the Black Cat. A rooftop deck or patio will allow ticketholders to move to a smoking area without forcing the front-of-house staff to recheck everybody and make patrons feel like they're being policed.
SWEET. Black Cat shows are pretty rough on certain of my more asthmatic friends, but chain-smoking is part of the self-destructive rock and roll lifestyle; thank you, Black Cat, for taking the steps to ensure harmony in the scene. Also, maybe now those loud assholes who were talking to each other at the top of their lungs during the Andrew Bird show will have someplace to fuck off to.
Brilliant! Thank God some businesses are thinking of their customers (and their bottom line.)
That's a decent solution to the clean air act issue. But I do wonder what the neighbors behind the Black Cat will think of the noise, given that it'll be a roof deck.
Still, good thinking on the part of Danté and crew.
Now, if they'll also spend some scratch on upgrading the audio system in the mainstage area when they scrub it out post-ban....
It's the Black Cat! Our citadel! Those caipirinha-sipping, Orange-and-Blue Line, pop-collared brownshirts from the Local will never take it from us! Aux armes, citoyens!
yippee! i lived in california when the smoking ban took effect there, and those outdoor patios and roof decks made life entirely more pleasant. i also lived in new york when the smoking ban took effect and since there is no room for patio areas and roof top decks there, the sidewalks were horribly crowded with smoking drunks. and i'm sure the people behind the cat won't care, considering it's just a big parking lot.
They should use the permit to get a new soundsystem or to hire a less stuffy staff.
I forgot to add, they should also figure out how to rid of that stupid circus ticket/double stamp entry policy.
Damn, Ann, sounds like everywhere you move, the smoking ban follows . . . just stay in DC, okay?
Let's keep this hippie virus from spreading any further.
These posts are too funny. Being part of the local crowd and I don't mean Local as in the weekend, Orange/Blue Line, pop-collared type, I always get nervous when these posts go out simply because it causes more hype. Shhh...
In case you're reading from outside the concentric circles we mean the Black Cat in, uh...Shirlington...yeah, that's the ticket...
thank god, the black cat is willing to do something to accomodate smokers. but in a couple years, the ban nazis will probably want to outlaw smoking on outdoor patios (california is starting to do that).
I do wonder what the neighbors behind the Black Cat will think of the noise, given that it'll be a roof deck.
There aren't really any neighbors behind the Black Cat. Immediately behind the bar is an alley, followed by a large city-owned lot full of buses and vans, followed by a city government building with at least 3 floors. You have to go about half a block away before you get to any private residences, and they should be somewhat shielded by the government building. The only residences that are likely to hear much noise from the rooftop deck would be the townhouses along S Street, or possibly places on the other side of 14th.
Hyping the Black Cat is great, because odds are that whenever the collar-poppers go to check out it out with their Gap-clad arm-candy, someone like Melt-Banana or Black Dice is playing. That's the best way to make sure they don't come back.
That's a fantastic idea. When the ban was proposed, I immediately thought of venues like the Black Cat, The Velvet, and 9:30 and the effect it would have.
Well done, Dante.
I don't know that it substantively changes the problem at hand for the Cat. Before the innovation, BC was looking at 200–400 people clamoring outside between sets to smoke. Now, they'll go to the roof deck. Same noise, slightly elevated—whether it's enough to raise alarms depends on how far drunk sound carries. Do Local's neighbors complain?
Neighborhood pushback isn't going to change the fact that in 2007 the Cat will be noisier than ever, but the deck does ensure that Danté's patrons ultimately stay onsite for the duration, meaning 1) they won't cause a ruckus outside, which is going to be a huge problem in Adams Morgan; 2) the three-ring circus at the door to the Cat won't become a full-blown Barnum n' Bailey's. All in all it's probably A Good Thing for the neighborhood, though I don't think that the Cat can possibly resist joining Saint Ex and Local 16 in an Axis of Collarpop.
If this is true about adding outside deck area of some kind at the cat then This is the best news I have heard all day!
The Blackcat is definitely one of my favorite bars, and my favorite venue in DC. (mainly because it reminds me of the dive bar I always frequented when I was in college in athens ohio...)
But. But. But.. It's SO expensive. Why would you go there just for a drink? I'm sorry, but a pint of beer should cost no more than $3 and a rail drink no more $4. Especially in an establishment that owns it own building and has such crappy sound.
California is not starting to ban outdoor smoking. ONE town passed an ordinance that will likely not pass a court challenge. Don't blow it out of proportion.
Wow, people treat the Black Cat like it's some sort of a local secret? You're kidding right?
"They should use the permit to get a new soundsystem..."
Seconded. Anytime they put something on that has the slightest bit of bass or high-pitched sound, you can hear the soundsystem filing a MediCare application. I keep waiting to see smoke start spitting out. Unfortunately, new equipment is kind of pricey and I don't know if their crowd really cares. I would rather see a rooftop deck anyway.
The ANC meeting about our rooftop deck has been moved to Thursday, May 4. We would love everyone's support, but the ANC has requested that only neighborhood residents attend the meeting. Either way, thanks for the encouragement. Hope to see you there.
When a smoking ban passed in my former hometown, there was an explosion of patios, decks and other outdoor space. I expect the same here, and it think there will be some great additions to the bar scene.
How can the Black Cat remind you of a dive bar?! That place is as expensive as every other place in this town. I WISH there were a cool, cheap place to drink... Like shouldn't every town have a $1 pbr can ordinance, where every bar has to serve them?
Let me know if there is something better.
woot.
i would just like to note: i've never seen a popped collar at black cat. ever. have no fear, people!
hiya "expensive swill" & "dc1974"--
i think you can get cheap drinx at the common share in adams morgan...i'm sure they'd be glad to have the business. plus, they're probably used to dealing with people who don't think they're yuppies and who want to hang out in "dive bars"! methinks you both surely would have been kicked out of the kingpin (r.i.p.).
As someone who has no doubt about being a yuppie and who views the Black Cat simply as a place to see bands that happen to play there, I find it priceless to see the inner-tensions people feel about the place.
You can just smell the residual high-school resentments. Keep it coming!
I think this roof deck is a great idea. One question: how on earth will people get up there? Or to a back patio, for that matter? Currently, everyone would have to traipse through the ACTUAL backstage (not the performance space). And to get to a roof? Stairs coming from the backstage of the mainstage? Build new stairs in the front? How would this affect all the hand stamping?
good one CM... residule high school resentments.
quality jad (and spot on)
the cat needs a sound system first... roof top deck second.
This sounded great until you mentioned local 16. That place sucks. If black cat is the new local 16, we'll need a new black cat.
I fear that if I don't agree that the Black Cat is not this Kabba Stone of Urban Hip that everyone thinks it is that some bike messengers and struggling artists may whack me.
"how on earth will people get up there?"
i haven't seen the plans for the building itself, but i'd assume that for the public to gain access to the roof they'd use the main stairwell and the staff would use a secondary stairwell in the backstage area... this secondary stairwell would also serve as a second means of egress in the event of a fire...
"How would this affect all the hand stamping?"
i'd imagine they'd take tickets for the mainstage shows immediately outside the mainstage door...
Well perhaps it's a totem of cool for some people, but as far as I'm concerned its just a bar/nightclub where decent live music can be had for minimal $$$, and where the dickhead quotient is generally pretty low. Back when I lived on the 1400 block of Swann from 1984-1990, there wasn't a goddamn thing to do on 14th other than score dope, pick up a quart, and get fucked up on your porch, so the Black Cat was a most welcome addition to the area. The fact that I still like going there might be proof that I am developmentally stunted, but what the hell, I like it.
MM
Black Cat should take some notes from the 400 Bar in Minneapolis - tiny venue, awesome sound system.
Anyone is free to deny the Black Cat's Ka'aba-ness, but one would hope that those who do not appreciate that place as much would not make it a regular destination, as there is limited space at the bar. And in an all-ages venue, high-school resentments aren't necessarily "residual." However, the popped-collar divide is, unfortunately, a social one; it's the latest euphemism for "boorish lout" and while it is but one variety, it is a particularly odious and (in recently gentrified 14th street bars) pervasive problem. Collar-poppers are the shock troops of "too popular for its own good." Their identifying characteristic is not offensive in its own right, it is, rather, indicative of a yen for assimilation, of that particular type of person who strives to associate himself with the newest, largest, easily-identifiable group. Popped collars were once trucker hats, they were once leg-warmers, they were once ripped jeans, they were once sport jackets with the sleeves rolled up, and in a few months they will be something else. While it is nice for these slack-jawed fad-chasers to make themselves so readily recognizable, any bar with a sense of personality and the will to defend its unique character from the marauding hordes of stultification will adjust its policies to discourage their patronage.
well played Gabe, well played
"indicative of a yen for assimilation"
That may be true for them, but I don't see how you can say that the majority of the BC crowd hasn't assimilated themselves. Tight jeans, bedhead hair, black frame glasses, you know the rest...
"any bar with a sense of personality and the will to defend its unique character from the marauding hordes of stultification will adjust its policies to discourage their patronage"
About the only thing that is unique about the black cat is its phone number. It's a typical small venue in a mid-sized city. That's not a bad thing. But it is not something unique.
You might as well be talking about a country club that's trying to keep out "that boorish lot" to protect its "unique character".
"i haven't seen the plans for the building itself, but i'd assume that for the public to gain access to the roof they'd use the main stairwell"
The main stairwell ends at the second floor.
"i'd imagine they'd take tickets for the mainstage shows immediately outside the mainstage door..."
You mean, on the tiny landing in front of the mainstage door at the top of the stairs? excellent idea.
Yeah I see those people, but they are, by and large, quiet enough and concerned with the kind of music I like enough for me to find them inoffensive. Secondly, they seem to be committed to that specific assimilation, and not to assimilation as a lifestyle. Country clubs have a unique character; I don't like that character, so they don't have to try too hard to keep me out, there's no need for them to engage in active prohibition of "my element." But insofar as I live in only one city, with only one mid-size club (that doesn't swing its loading doors wide to any tribute band or ragtag group of djembe-sporting hippies that comes down the pike), the Black Cat is unique, and its character is worth protecting, for me. While I don't think its booking policies are likely to change overmuch, demographic shifts have been known to affect that sort of behaviour, and the risk is just a tad too high for me to make any concessions. Keep the bastards out, I say!
The roof deck is a great idea. I 100% Support it. Until recently I lived on 14th st, backing onto the cat. I had loads of problems with my stuck up neighbor complaining about MY noise. I hope the cat gets a huge noisy roof deck, and the stuck up neighbor gets it.
"You broke your arm once before, remember?
You fell out of our tree house. Kenneth picked you up...
and we carried you 12 blocks to the hospital. Yeah, you cried all the way.
We were all friends then, remember?
And now you want to end his life...
because he's talking to Patty on your side of the cafeteria.
Oh, man, that's stupid. I know, 'cause that's where I wanted to be.
On your side, with your crowd. But I messed up.
See, I tried to buy my way in.
But Kenneth... he's not trying to buy anybody.
He's Just trying to make friends. Being himself.
Cools, nerds, your side, my side.
Man, it's all bullshit. It's Just tough enough to be yourself.
It's all right.
- Sorry. - It's okay.
[Cheers, Applause]"
I would just like to point out that 95% of people who hang out at the Black Cat suck anyway, as do 100% of the people who posted on this thread who assume that hanging out at one played-out club somehow makes them intrinsically better than people who hang out at some other played-out club. Douchebags, all of you.
I love how you bitches whine about the Cat. If it isn't the sound system or the 'tards with bedhead, it's the "DJs killed live music and my mom and raped my dad" canard.
And if you want cheap beer, doesn't Velvet Lounge still do that once-a-month free beer thing? But then, you'd probably complain that the band wasn't The Strokes and the lead singer didn't go down on you.
holly,
i hope you didn't take my replies to the questions you'd asked as a personal attack, but it appears as you might've... that was not my intent at all, i apologize if that's how it read...
"The main stairwell ends at the second floor."
yes, a new flight of stairs would have to be put in...
"You mean, on the tiny landing in front of the mainstage door at the top of the stairs?"
yes, especially if they kept the right door closed there'd be plety of room for a person to sit on a stool with the podium they have to take tickets... they could move this "station" to allow exit through both of the doors when they close the mainstage... the "box office" desk could stay at the base of the stairs how it currently is...
as i said before, i don't have any specific knowledge of the design of the black cat or this renovation they're supposedly planning... i'm just proposing answers to the questions you asked...
Hey "oh lord." That's a strawman argument. No one is saying that hanging out at the Black Cat makes you anything, we're just saying that we don't want the advent of the roofdeck to draw all the jerks out of the jerkstore and into one of our favorite venues. There's plenty of jerks wandering around as it is, apparently. Reading comprehension, it's the shizzle; look in to it.
What they really need to do is fix up the exterior facing the sidewalk - the entrance is covered with a metal rollup door, the bar's window is blocked up and painted black, and the cafe's section's windows are shuttered. Not an appealling addition to the block, as cool as it is to have this sort of venue nearby. Let's get the owner to open up the facade and make a contribution during daylight hours.
That's not "the bar's window" so much as it is "the men's room window" that's blocked up and painted black, so I don't think opening it up is going to make a really positive contribution to the overall sidewalk aesthetic. That's just my opinion, of course.
hey michael-- it's a NIGHTCLUB, not a dayclub...
"addition to the block?" guess what--the black cat was ON the block well before the garden district, pulp, pop, go mama go, muleh, vastu, bar pilar, cafe saint ex, that art studio upstairs from bar pilar, the new second-hand store across the street, the new animal hospital where the autobody shop had been (for more than 30 years), etc. surely, that block would not be the destination it is today without the pioneering presence of the black cat (for better or for worse, of course).