Just when you thought the reality of Trump taking over the White House in D.C. was devastating now the gays in the DMV area are losing their favorite nightclub. To what? To another f*king apartment complex!
Town Danceboutique is the largest gay dance club in Washington, D.C. It’s a combination of a cabaret performance space, a plush lounge, and a high energy dance floor. From Friday night go-go boys to surprise performance artists and international circuit djs this nightclub had it all for many years in the nation’s capital. Many are heartbroken as this is the first club they experienced as it is 18+ on featured nights but now that D.C. pride is said and done Town made the announcement on Facebook.
Town Danceboutique announced that they will be closing on July 1st, 2018. In a statement released by the venue they said, “After more than ten years in operation at 2009 8th street NW, in the center of the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, DC, Town Danceboutique, the city’s largest and most well known LGBTQ night club, will be closing.” The building was sold to a developer in 2016 and will be turned into an apartment complex.
People quickly went to Facebook to comment:
“You seriously can’t be shutting down. PLEASE! Town was my very first gay bar/club and I along with thousands of others in the DMV have so much history here. Gentrification is the worst. How could you sell out like this?”
Town had previously released a statement that says the club will remain open for “years to come.” The statement read: “Since 2007, Town Danceboutique has operated in the Shaw neighborhood at 2009 8th Street NW. In that time, and after considerable investments in our neighborhood by many people including ourselves, Shaw is now one of Washington’s most thriving and desirable parts of the city. “Understandably, because of that popularity, there has been an interest in the real estate that Town currently occupies. In fact, the building has been sold in previous years and we have had multiple landlords since we have been in operation. Now, the building has been sold once again. This sale was not a surprise to us and we have a great relationship with our new landlord who is excited to have us as their tenant. We also enjoy solid lease terms and we intend and fully expect to be throwing parties in our current location for years to come.”
It looks like things have changed since then and they cannot hold off the rumors. Normally when you hear a club is closing down its the truth as gays cannot keep their mouths shut when it comes to good gossip or in this case devastating news. We heard really bad rumours about XL Nightclub in NYC years ago and now we saw it in its casket over gay pride in NYC as it’s changing into a non-homo boutique hotel. Even the Out Hotel has been put to rest and “another one in the casket” as Katy Perry would say.
Another blow to D.C. are the other probably true rumors that the stripper club is closing down. The gay nightclub Ziegfeld’s-Secrets also sold their building to a developer. The sale followed approval by the city of the construction of a new soccer stadium across the street from the Ziegfeld’s-Secrets building. Although the owner Alan Carroll has said the developer that bought the building “doesn’t expect to displace or evict his club for four or five years since the property is not on the footprint of the soccer stadium.” Yeah right? Didn’t we lose the original Town in D.C. (can’t remember the original name) to a fu*king stadium. Not sure what’s worse a sports stadium or an apartment complex… probably an apartment complex because at least we can watch concerts at sports arenas.
What areas will the gays improve next and then gentrification takes over that neighborhood? We seem to beautify and bring traffic somewhere then corporations take over. They already want our pride parades, our clubs, and a Chinese company owns Grindr and Hornet. We need our gay back!
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