Photo by Flickr user Andrew Bossi

At the monthly meeting of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2F last night, members of the local board talked in anticipation of Mood Lounge’s hearing tomorrow before the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.

Mood Lounge, which is located at 1318 9th Street NW, has been closed since last week after the Alcoholic Beverage Regulatory Administration suspended its liquor license in the wake of an incident December 30 in which two people were stabbed and critically wounded just after leaving the establishment. (Metropolitan Police Department Chief Cathy Lanier first ordered it shut for 96 hours the afternoon following the stabbing.)

At last night’s meeting, commissioners discussed what they would present to the ABC board. Charles Reed (2F01) said that the ANC would request the opportunity to testify against Mood Lounge and that its recommendation would be to see the liquor license suspension continued indefinitely. It was really no secret at the meeting that the ANC would like to see the establishment driven out of business for good.

“I think it’s about time,” said Samuel Goekjian (2F03).

The lounge bungled its way through the ensuing investigation, with one employee identifying a streak of blood at Mood’s doorway as a cranberry juice stain, and the owner, Abeba Beyene, claiming that her security system had malfunctioned the night of the stabbing. Investigators found that the equipment was working properly, but that no footage was saved because the system’s hard drives were full.

Shaw residents near the establishment have long complained about its effect on the neighborhood since it opened about a year ago. The club itself has been the subject of scores of noise complaints, charges that it is improperly disposing of its refuse and that Beyene tried to turn an adjacent lot into a valet parking zone without either permission from the lot’s owner or the relevant regulatory authorities. Meanwhile, many neighbors have reported seeing Mood Lounge customers urinating in the street and in flower beds, starting fights and vandalizing nearby property.

Then there’s the question of the hours Mood Lounge keeps. Though it is licensed as a tavern, having inherited the license of its location’s previous occupant, Be Bar, Mood was usually open on Fridays and Saturdays only from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m., hours that are more consistent with a nightclub. (It had been open the Thursday night before the stabbing incident for a special event.)

In the immediate aftermath of the stabbing, Beyene pinned the incident on the neighborhood, which is a mix of residential and developing commercial real estate. “This is the most dangerous area,” she told DCist last month, though a quick glance at recent statistical trends for the MPD’s Third District (through 2009) suggest otherwise.

Councilmember Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) has been particularly heated toward Mood Lounge and, like ANC 2F, hopes to see tomorrow’s hearing keep the establishment shut down. “I hope [the ABC board] impose[s] onerous restrictions that prevent [Mood Lounge] from doing business for a good long time,” he said in an interview last week.”

Beyene has not responded to several calls. The hearing is scheduled for tomorrow at 9 a.m. at ABRA’s office at 14th and U streets NW.