Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Homo / City The Last Dance for Neighbours?
Posted by Dominic Holden on Tue, Sep 30, 2008 at 6:48 PM
Neighbours, Seattle’s venerable gay dance club, filed a lawsuit last week fighting for its right to remain in a warehouse-style building in the Pike-Pine neighborhood. The bar opened there in 1983, started serving liquor a few years later, and has since made a patchwork of remodels, from go-go cages to another dance floor in the basement.
But the building’s owners, a land trust comprising several individuals, sent a letter to the bar owners in early August terminating the lease and telling the bar to vacate by the end of the month.
In the letter, landlords claim the bar violated terms of the lease signed in March of this year. It says the lease allows the tenant to use the space as a “tavern… commissary, restaurant. ... and cabaret.” But, it says, “No food, however, is prepared and served on the premises. Furthermore, the current operation of the Premises as a dance club is not a permitted use.” The letter goes on to say that the club remodeled without permission and allowed liquor to be taken outside of the bar, as examples of further lease violations.
But there is no secret that Neighbours is a dance club. Leases over previous decades used similar language, the lawsuit shows. So it seems extremely unusual that the landlords would, after signing another lease in March, suddenly act surprised that Neighbours is, in fact, a dance club. An attorney for the landlords has not returned calls to comment.
“We don’t think there is any merit whatsoever to the landlords’ claims,” says Mark Kimball, an attorney representing Neighbours. He says owners were informed about how the space was used. “We believe the business is accurately described in the lease."
Kimball would not speculate on why the bar owners were attempting to negate the lease after 25 years. He says the bar owners and the landlords are currently in negotiations. “I am extremely confident that the dispute will be resolved favorably to Neighbours,” he says.
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1
So, are we still deluding ourselves thinking Seattle has a vibrant gay night life? Really? Are we? Fuck, it is becoming Spokane with a growth hormone problem at this rate.
First Timberline, then Manray, then Pony and now it looks like Neighbors..... It sucks to be gay and single in Seattle.
7
Maybe they want more money and are fishing for a technical reason to void the lease that requires their pretending to be innocent? Maybe one of the owners had his/her other investments hosed recently and needs to cash out? I suspect their arguments make sense, even though it's implausible that they didn't know about dancing happening at Neighbors.
8
@1, It only sucks to be gay and single in Seattle because all the other lame gay bars haven't shut down, too. And how could you mourn Pony (sainted) in the same sentence as Neighbors, Manray and Timberline (damned)? Frankly, I miss the Sea Wolf, but then that's because I'm gay, single and love toothless alcoholics.
@3 and @5, you are bitter old things who will never light the world the way Mr. Poe can.
@6, my motor's running...be quick abnout it, gas ain't exactly cheap.
9
I know what they should build there! Condos with ground floor retail, that'd be so great! And unusual!! And really, really needed!!!
JesusGod.
11
Neighbours. La, the memories..... Dancing on the speakers, selling shots for liquor promotions in outfits just this side of the liquor board, appearing in shows. Those were my skinny years.
I fell in love (or something like that) at Neighbours more times than I could possibly hope to remember: Dirty old men, dirty young men, sailors on a lark... It was the place that straight girls took their boyfriends to when they figured out that he just needed that final nudge out of the closet....
I find it impossible to believe that I used to be able to stay up until 4am, and then report to work at the Four Seasons at 8am in a suit.
I haven't been there in years, but I hope manage to keep it. Those were the days.
13
Neighbors has been serving food in its space since before I moved to Seattle.
And that's a LOOOOONG time.
14
Well sure, they SERVED food. But did anyone ever EAT it?
That "buffet" was notorious. Although I do dimly remember when they had an actual dinner service, with dancing afterwards.
15
The landlords likely want to tear it down and turn into Condos like the rest of Capitol Hill these days.
16
agree with poe. even when i was frequenting the shit hole to get laid, i hated it. the world, and yes, even the "gay" world, will be better off without neighbors.
17
@11 Amen, Sister. I went on my 21st birthday and was too afraid to dance... until Blue Monday came on and I got so excited because I loved that song. I danced my skinny butt off that night and many after.
18
@14 - when I used to drive here from Vancouver BC on Friday night and then go dancing with my (at the time) fiancee, you bet I ate it - kind of hungry by then.
I don't recall it was good, but that's not the fake "reason" for them kicking them out of the space.
19
i worked at metroman in my early 20's -- 1994ish. after closing the store on a thursday or a saturday i would often wind up there. it was a terrifying place. i was geeky and uncool and genuinely clueless about how cute i was. i was probably a little too enthusiastic about the place even though i talked shit about it constantly. i knew what underwear all the guys were wearing because most of them had bought them from me earlier.
i forget when it became so oppressively uncool to go there. though i never miss it, i miss being naive and geeky and genuine.
20
how could you mourn the loss of pony? you knew that it was going to be a short thrill ride when it started.
21
I am a 54 year old straight social worker/mom , have never been,and even I know there is dancing.
22
You can hate on Neighbours all you want (lord only knows I have more than a few choice words to say about it), but the fact remains: if it goes, what exactly IS left?
24
My perception is it's so damn difficult to open/keep a bar in this town, there's no incentive for for bars to be nice. Neighbors isn't that great because, well, it doesn't have to be to make money.
Say what you will for the place, but if (when?) it goes, the options will be even more dire.
25
how long was the lease they signed in March and why did they continue to sign leases promising not to use the space as a dance club?
26
Spending 4 nights a week at neighbors when coming out, then complaining about how lame it is after you're out, is a Gay Seattle cliche.
27
i'm not usually into pointing out typos and such however the sentence "but there is a no secret that neighbors is dance club" made me picture dominic holden with an organ grinder and a monkey on his shoulder. i laughed.
and neighbors is pretty gross, but seattle isn't very friendly to bars/restaurants so i guess you get what you pay for...
28
Neighbors - overstayed it's welcome. but still serves a socially relevant? purpose of providing a safe? place for the under-21s to meet up. whatever...... GET RID OF IT
and I had many enjoyable times there..... But new times demand new places...
30
Personally I miss Fort Seattle (country western bar on Pike Street) most of all, sigh.
I haven't been to Neighbors in years... but it would be a shame to lose it.
33
I made a lot of very bad decisions there... Fun. But bad. Oh.... so many years ago. Wish I could do it all again...
(But it really did start to resemble a forgotten prostitutes corpse rotting in an alley many many years ago...)
35
@20, it doesn't mean we don't want more, more, MORE! I wish it was still there, I'd buy you and kesh a beer :-)
37
Not many places left in the neighborhood for clubs anew. Not many warehouses left, not like 70's or 80's. Question is, parking lot or anchor retail? while it is easier to rent a building without current renters, my money is on a parking lot. parking is getting tight up there, now that The Garage got rid of their lot.
38
Yes, Neighbours is a trashy trashy place where I've had plenty of fun times. And if it weren't for Neighbours fat chicks from Federal Way would never meet and fall in love with gay men. But it is Frankenclub. After every remodel it's ended up looking just as trashy as before the remodel.
So go ahead, tear it down and build condos. You KNOW that's what they want to do. When a void is created another will fill it's spot. Mr. Poe was right (he was rude about it as usual but correct) The Cuff is the new Neighbours, craptastic music and all.
As for gay bars there are a few worth mentioning (bars, not dance clubs) the new Elite and The Cresent are both a lot of fun.
40
I wouldn't normally mourn the loss of Neighbors, except that it will undoubtedly mean more skinny meth heads overrunning the rest of the gay bars... which sucks.
41
No loss if it goes away. Us Queers were just getting our asses beat up on the Hill anyway. Where should we start the new gay ghetto anyway?
42
I'm surprised the ownership is pulling this at this time. With the economy in the tank, it's not exactly going to be easy to do something else with the space. One of the few silver linings of the credit crisis is that it's become almost impossible to get loans for new construction, so condos there are pretty much right out. As for finding another tenant, that may not be so easy in a recession either.
43
This is a little off-topic, but does anybody else like sucking boils off your partners back until they burst in your mouth?
45
1)I'm very proud to say I've lived here 8 years and never set foot in the place. From the pictures I've seen, it looks like any gay bar in any midwestern town circa 1988. Been there, done that. Still, I feel sad for all the folks who have happy memories of getting drunk off their ass there, or their first STD while listening to Mom Finley cackle on stage...
2)I'm wondering if Seattle Central is behind this...they've been sneakily buying up properties in the area like Atlas next door...
47
We have seen about 100 or so "gay" bars open and close in the last 30 years. Most of the remaining bars are the long time survivors. There are a dozen bars left that have survived over 15 years. They include:
Changes in Wallingford (fna as the Bus Stop); Rebar (fna Axelrock, Sparks,"S"; The Cresent; The Elite (Broadway, then on Olive); The Eagle (fna as the J&L Saloon); R-Place (on Pike then Pine St);Neighbours; The Wildrose; The Cuff; Madison Pub; Martin's (fna Hombres, Sea Wolf, Full Circle); CC's (fna Mikes on Madison, CC Slaughters North) and lets not forget the DoubleHeader in Pioneer Square at close to 80 year.
48
@ 30, that was tuggs bellmot, wasn't it riz? not belltown?
sure, everybody, neighbours is a dump, that's obvious to anyone with eyes. but the theory that another will just spring up to fill the void hasn't panned out for the other 5,00000 gay bars that have vanished since 2001ish.we are in a fucking condo wasteland.
49
Hopefully this bar/club closes - It's so trashy! It's just a bunch of straight ugly women, or underage kids (after 2).
50
@47, the Doubleheader is about as gay as Sonya's is these days: not at all.
As for that Neighbors buffet - have you ever wondered what hell tastes like?
51
adrain @48.. nope it was tugs in belltown its first incarnation.. tugs belmont was it's second and the owners trouble keeping the place open and filled. it was rumoured that tugs belltown was shut down by a religulous landlord because of noise complaints so they oved to the hill but the crowd didn't follow. between the the bar proper which served only beer and wine and the frontier room next door which served strong mixed drinks with food ( you hadda serve food in order to serve grown folks alcohol in those days, hence neighbors infamous cold cut buffet) it was a destination spot for the gays who liked to dance to great dj's.and for giggles we'd alternate between the vogue a couple of blocks away in one direction and the watertown a block away in the other.. back then the onliest gay club you could dance in on the hill was the brass connection.
everything changes..
53
@ 50: i once found one of mark finley's old pumps at the bottom of a pan of bbq meat balls at the neighbours buffet. true story.
54
I know people who used to hide cigarette butts in the hot potato salad @ the buffet and then watch as people unknowingly dug in. Also a true story.
55
I went out dancing in Portland last weekend and HAD FUN... I kind of forgot that could happen. Why does Seattle nightlife suck so hard.
I know that's not a productive statement, but it is true.
56
I love it when riz shares stories...
sI know I'll be flamed for this, but someone should get a queer oral history project going (no pun intended, but it does sound naughty)
57
it would be sOo sad to see neighbours go.. although if it does.. they better come back with a bigger.. newer.. more modernize.. venue..
there's an empty venue across purr.. on the 2nd floor.. :)
58
Although I think the gay club scene in Seattle sucks, Neighbours would be a big loss. Then we'd be left with:
- The Cuff, with a smelly front leather bar and creepy old men with no social skills grabbing your ass
- R Place, with rude staff and bad hippy hoppy music
At least Neighbours has a decent dance floor, good music, and strong drinks. And if you go late enough (like after midnight), it's still pretty gay.
To those who say there's no room for gay bars anymore, I call bullshit. I'd much rather go out with friends and meet new people around me than try to meet guys hiding behind a computer screen. There are decent guys out there. Even at Purr.
59
I am not surprised to hear this news about Neighbors. In fact, there are eleven more individual parties threatening to file suit in District Court after Mona, the daughter of Moe Eliassiouti and Manager of the club, hired Phoenix Fire Events to do the repairs and construction that included tens of thousands of dollars for a new sound system, which they now refuse to pay for. WOW! What champs....
By denying payment to the company that provided the equipment (AV Pro) in an amount reported to be in excess of $50,000 in addition to refusing to pay the people she contracted for work, many of the unpaid crew are facing evictions, and collection calls from creditors, and Phoenix Fire Events is no longer allowed to use the production houses they built a 20 year relationship with unless the unpaid debt is made good.
All the victims of Mona and her shenanigans are suffering horribly.
While Neighbors is a longtime institution in our community, perhaps it is time they close their doors if they are going to throw the rest of us under the bus to save themselves - and their own rumored bad habits.
60
I think that everyone is missing the bigger picture here, it's not just another bar closing, it's Capital Hill that is closing. The whole Capital Hill area is changing and the Gay Ghetto is disappearing right before our eyes (remember when Pride Parade was on Broadway?)and as for Gay life in Seattle, coming form Salt Lake City, this place is Heaven. Single or not, don't blame the night life or lack of it, for your unhappiness. The sad thing that is happening to Seattle Gays is that we were so bent on being accepted by everyone that we are loosing our uniqueness. We are becoming the norm and all the fun, silly, odd and risqué things that make us GAY will fade away until there are no Gay bars, shops, cafes and such. We will be mall shopping, church going, child rearing, same sex families with nothing separating us from the mass public except our sexual prefrences.It is happening all over the world where large communities of Gay and Lesbian live, been to BC Canada lately? you can't tell who's Gay or not, and all the city gets into Gay Pride weekend! The times are changing and so are we and our community will never be what it was 15, 10, or even 5 years ago.
62
The Stranger should definitely set up a Neighbors memories page. Mine include watching the president of the Student Bar Association at the UW Law School (now a governor of the State Bar Association) strip in a cage.
63
my, my, my....all you complaining queens are still as bitchy as ever! Despite your respective ages..it must be genetic lol!
I have enjoyed listening to the music, dancing occasionly, and oggling the youngsters for some time now! Neighbours was always fun for me. No one ever was dragged in there in chains and cuffs...oh wait! I remember one night...TEAR THE FUCKER DOWN !! I was humiliated but came frequently lol
65
I very rarely - if ever - set my eyes on anything to do with "The Slog" (except for those few times people tell me I've once again been 'mentioned') but I couldn't resist commenting on all this.
I worked at that place on and off for the past 15 years. There have always been problems - but at the last minute it was presented with a stay of execution, as it were. It is also no secret that it has always been the club that every gay person in Seattle loves to 'hate' - yet 9 times out of 10 those same people could be found there dancing like there was no tomorrow. Yes, it's yet another gay venue on Capital Hill to close and I'm pretty sure it won't be the last.
I do have many a fond memory of nights there. I also have many memories from my time there that I wish forever erased from my mind. So it may shock some of you to know - I welcome it's demise. Personally I feel it is a tad overdue.
With regard to the woeful cries of "where will we go", the mists of bars past "that were so much better" and the complaint that nightlife in Seattle is "dead" I say this: There is always somewhere to go; the past will always seem better from the vantage point of today; you have no one to blame for your 'dead' nightlife but yourself.
Life goes on - things change - so what. We are all blessed with gift of 'choice' or 'free will'. If you don't like something - change it. Or if you do like it - fight for it. If there isn't a 'nightlife' you like - start one - or quit your bitchin'.
That's all. I can't believe I've wasted this much time posting a comment here. There are so many other productive things to do with your time besides post anonymous negativity just because you can.
M.
66
Hey Dennis,
I know for a fact that, AV Pro has been paid in full. I also have seen the gazillions of checks written to the contractors Phoenix Fire hired.
You should get your facts straight!
There are very few people other than Phoenix Fire themselves and perhaps you who will agree that the money spent was worth it. Do you see the big difference? I know I can't. Does the word gauge ring a bell!
Neighbours is still paying to correct post Reno mistakes. Does accountability have any meaning to you? Neighbours should be suing you guys for peats sakes.
If it comes down to fact, then it is you guys who threw Neighours under the bus!
Feel free to rely on your version - rumored bad habits. We are putting our money on the facts.
P.S Mona was your customer. She signed your checks. If this is how you treat a customer then I urge everyone to think twice about hiring this company for anything.
I am so sick of people who try to shove their speculations down everyone's throats. Guess that's why we have lawyers and courts to protect us from whiners and liars like you.
67
Hey Dennis,
I know for a fact that, AV Pro has been paid in full. I also have seen the gazillions of checks written to the contractors Phoenix Fire hired.
You should get your facts straight!
There are very few people other than Phoenix Fire themselves and perhaps you who will agree that the money spent was worth it. Do you see the big difference? I know I can't. Does the word gauge ring a bell!
Neighbours is still paying to correct post Reno mistakes. Does accountability have any meaning to you? Neighbours should be suing you guys for peats sakes.
If it comes down to fact, then it is you guys who threw Neighours under the bus!
Feel free to rely on your version - rumored bad habits. We are putting our money on the facts.
P.S Mona was your customer. She signed your checks. If this is how you treat a customer then I urge everyone to think twice about hiring this company for anything.
I am so sick of people who try to shove their speculations down everyone's throats. Guess that's why we have lawyers and courts to protect us from whiners and liars like you.
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