Residents object to putting strip clubs underground

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Some residents are objecting to an idea that would literally drive some of Washington’s strip clubs underground by placing them beneath a landmark traffic circle.

District of Columbia Councilman Jim Graham said last week that he is considering a suggestion to allow at least two clubs formerly located on the site of the Nationals’ new ballpark to open in an abandoned trolley-car complex under Dupont Circle.

“I’m not sure this is the best space for any club setting,” neighborhood activist Mike Silverstein said July 16. “The idea of having hundreds of people in an underground setting, where liquor is served and (with) very limited access in and out, brings up safety issues.”

Graham initially proposed legislation that would have allowed clubs displaced by the baseball stadium to transfer their liquor licenses and move to properties in the blighted New York Avenue corridor, prompting fears of an unwanted red-light district.

The D.C. Council later passed a series of limitations on where the clubs could relocate to keep them from clustering together. Graham said the idea of placing clubs under Dupont Circle would not move forward without community input.

The old trolley complex, known as Dupont Down Under, has a history of failed business ventures. A food court opened there in 1995, but the D.C. government terminated the developer’s lease the next year.