West Hollywood’s Here Lounge, closed Dec. 2 by the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, is reopening at 9 p.m. tonight with “Truckstop,” its lesbian-themed weekly event.
ABC officials closed Here for violating “lewd conduct” laws that regulate what sort of behavior can take place where alcohol is served. The ABC citation cited conduct by go go dancers, who are employed by nightlife promoters who contract with Here, that include one dancer putting the hand of a female ABC inspector into his underwear. ABC also said that an employee had served a patron a drink without charging for it.
In an interview last month, Rogers said the one-month closure would hurt his employees, who would be without work in December. Rogers also complained that the ABC department didn’t provide him with a detailed report of its allegations of lewd conduct until just before ordering the closure, although it began its investigation in May. Rogers said he would have taken steps to ensure that ABC regulations were being met if he had been alerted to any possible violations.
Rogers said the one-month shut down gave him the opportunity to thoroughly clean the club, which is located at 696 N. Robertson Blvd. south of Santa Monica. He said Here will also soon install dramatic new lighting.
On Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays Here will resume its gay-oriented events — “Stripper Circus” on Wednesdays, “Hooker Casino” on Saturdays and “Size” on Sundays. Here is closed the other nights of the week, although Rogers said he is pondering opening on Thursday if he can come up with an event that will attract a crowd. One possibility, he said, is a night aimed at heterosexual clubgoers.
EDITOR’S NOTE: An earlier version of this story erred in failing to mention “Stripper Circus,” the Here event on Wednesdays.
I said it before so I’ll say it again. Weho is going slowly but surely Hetro.
Exclusively gay bars are vanishing, succumbing to a profit-driven pressure to be as welcoming to straight people as possible, functionally eliminating those spaces as viable meeting places and creating a distinct hole for gay culture.
Welsey, I completely agree with you. I’m catching wind that is exactly what “PUMP” on the other side of Here Lounge will also turn into and the fact that that whole “Cooley’s” thing over on that side of Santa Monica Blvd (which is most likely being bank rolled by SBE money because I’m sure they’re a ‘silent partner’). I predict that San Vicente will become some type of territorial line for gay & heterosexual club goers in Weho. Hetero’s have Sunset & Hollywood Blvd to do their partying on and if you haven’t been there lately on a Saturday or… Read more »
Really? Here wants to have a night for heterosexuals? Do they think they are The Abbey? Why is it that these clubs think they have to cater to heterosexuals? There are hundreds of clubs all over LA for them. We gays only have a few in Weho and Silver Lake. I’m not saying we don’t want the straights to come here, of course we do, but do we have to turn our clubs over to them? Just a couple of thoughts…