AVOID WEEKEND METRO FAILS WITH NEW BETHESDA TO DC NIGHTLIFE SHUTTLE

DC HOPPER JOINS

UBER - WILL PRIVATE

TRANSPORTATION

REPLACE

PUBLIC TRANSIT?

Another Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row Exclusive

Are you sick and tired of using the Metro Red Line on weekend nights?  Delays, single-tracking, breakdowns, and - my personal favorite - total closure of the Bethesda Metro station - even on a holiday weekend?

There's a new option.

The DC Hopper, a "nightlife shuttle," launched in Bethesda this past weekend.

You can board the Hopper at the corner of Norfolk and St. Elmo Avenues, across from Hanaro.  Just check the schedule, go to the Hopper stop, pay by credit card (or even with your phone - they accept Square payments!), and even while they're processing your credit card, you're already on your way into DC.

The Hopper will take you to - and bring you back from - Georgetown (1218 Wisconsin Avenue NW) and Dupont Circle (18th Street and Connecticut Avenue NW).

But wait, there's more!

You'll also get a wristband that entitles you to VIP line access and discounted drinks, among other perks.  Participating clubs include Modern, Dirty Bar and Third Edition.

This service is being specifically marketed as an alternative to the poor-performing Metro system, just as private car service Uber has offered a high-quality alternative to taxis.

We know Metro is a public system.  But taxis are so over-regulated by local governments, that they have essentially become public transportation, as well.  What Uber has started, is a textbook demonstration of the power of free markets and competition.

You provide a terrible service?  Well, guess what?  I don't have to use your service!  This other guy is going to provide a better product, and that's who is going to get my money.

Is there any surprise that some on the DC Council want to stop Uber?

It makes you wonder about the future of transportation.  I think Metro was great, and could be great again with the right leadership at WMATA and regionally.

But to keep making the public pay more for service and quality that consistently gets worse - we can't go on like this.

Services like DC Hopper and Uber suggest that, unless public agencies and elected officials clean up their act soon, we might witness a revolution in private transportation.   Paper card?  Smart card?  Who needs a card, when your smartphone summons and pays for the whole thing!

This is a positive development, and ultimately, government will have to compete or give up in the transportation marketplace.

DAVID CASTAIN OPENS VIP OUTDOOR STORE AT BETHESDA'S WESTFIELD MONTGOMERY MALL

Washington D.C. businessman and nightlife guru David Castain is expanding into Bethesda, opening the new V.I.P. Outdoor apparel store at Westfield Montgomery Mall.

Now if I can just ever convince the right people to build an upscale, Las Vegas-style nightclub and lounge here in Bethesda, he might be in town even more often, putting on the kinds of events he currently promotes in the District.

RELIC NIGHTCLUB MOVES OUT - EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS

The final words in the final chapter of troubled Bethesda nightspot Relic were written this week.  After losing its liquor license, and then its home to foreclosure and auction, the club appears to be vacating the premises.

Despite its unpopularity with police and county officials, the club did have a loyal following.  Whenever I pass by that building on Fairmont Avenue, there is almost always someone just discovering that Relic is closed.  Relic will be most remembered for being the first in Bethesda history to offer bottle service and VIP tables.  BlackFinn and The Parva soon followed, and still offer that on specific nights (for example, Thursdays at BlackFinn, and, usually, weekend nights at The Parva).

I'm still holding out hope - albeit a futile one, given our county's rudderless "leadership" - that Bethesda will eventually get a pretentious, Las Vegas-style nightclub.  Complete with rope lines, bottle service, swanky surroundings, and C-list celebrity guest hosts.  Bethesda wallets can afford it, but the question is, will anyone build it?

RELIC NIGHTCLUB BUILDING TO BE AUCTIONED OFF

FORECLOSURE FINAL BLOW TO

SHUTTERED BETHESDA 

NIGHTSPOT

Another Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row Exclusive

The saga of the beleagured Relic nightclub will reach an end on Thursday, August 9, at high noon.  At that moment, the small building that houses the club and office space at 4936 Fairmont Avenue will be auctioned off to the highest bidder, on the sidewalk out front.

Apparently, Montgomery County's seizure of the club's liquor license - which forced its indefinite closure - sent the building into foreclosure when the property owner defaulted on the mortgage, according to Craig Haughton and Nina Basu, who have been named substitute trustees of the property.

The 15,000 square foot property continues to house several offices, as you can tell by scanning the lobby directory.

Thinking of placing a bid?  You'll need $100,000 cash or certified funds if you win.

The property has potential for either a long-term investor, or a large developer.  Someone wanting to run a nightclub or restaurant - and who has the capital and patience to wait 5 years for the rebirth of dilapidated and deserted Fairmont Avenue - will be rewarded with a prime spot in the new Old Bethesda.

Developers might be interested in the property, if they can buy adjoining plots to allow for a larger, mixed use development.

Whatever the future of this building, this block of Fairmont is dead, dead, dead right now, and not a street people like to venture down after dark.  Of course, that's because pro-developer tax and planning policies by the county have indirectly forced out many of the street's tenants.  Although Relic has been the source of many complaints, the tearing-up of its liquor license certainly came at a most convenient time.  The shark fins are circling most of the mom-and-pop shops on the most promising avenues across Old Town Bethesda.

So far, nearby residents have been displeased by the project proposed at Fairmont's corner with Norfolk.  A primary complaint is the developer's plan to have an "inactive" street level (i.e. no restaurants or shops to activate the area after business hours).  I share their concerns.  This block is one of the darkest and loneliest at night in town, and the entrance to the street should not be essentially a Berlin Wall.

As I've said many times, with little room to develop downcounty, it is imperative that the Planning Board ensures the most added value from each and every project it approves.  And the maximum height and density within walking distance from Metro in downtown Bethesda.

Otherwise, many of those projects will suffer the same fate as 4936 Fairmont Avenue, in the not-so-distant future.

BOTTLE SERVICE CATCHING ON AT BETHESDA NIGHTSPOTS

BLACKFINN WILL BE THIRD BETHESDA

BAR TO OFFER TABLE SERVICE WITH

MAY 10 LAUNCH OF "THIRSTY THURSDAYS"

 Another Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row Exclusive!!!

A promising new trend is developing in downtown Bethesda's nightspots:  bottle service/table service.

Once a practice limited to places like Las Vegas and Los Angeles, table service made its way to Washington, DC eventually.  But it was completely unheard of in Montgomery County.

Relic on Fairmont Avenue was the first to introduce it.  In the last year, The Parva has added it.

Next week, on May 10th, BlackFinn Bethesda will join them with the launch of "Thirsty Thursday."

In general, bottle or table service in Vegas, et al, can require an upfront fee, and mandatory purchases of x-number of bottles, based on the size of your party.

BlackFinn isn't going to make you do that.  But it will be an exclusive, VIP experience, and you will not only get special deals, but also have the chance to win gift cards.

What makes it exclusive, is that the first 5 hosts - with at least 5 guests - (that's you, within the group you are going to BlackFinn with) who are present, and check-in at the sign-in table, get on the First Come-First Served Reservation List for table service.

What makes it VIP, is that if you are one of those 5 hosts Thursday nights at 9 PM, you and your guests will receive not only a reserved booth for the night, and a cocktail server waiting on that booth all night, but you are also going to get a FREE bottle of champagne to get the evening started.

You'll be able to take advantage of special deals, like $3 U-call-its and a FREE appetizer buffet from 9-11 PM.  Then, at 11, all drinks will be $4 until midnight (if your party has signed in by 11:00).  In addition, Bud Light bottles will be $2 from 9:00 to close.

Now, about those prizes.  For every 10 guests you bring, you'll get a $10 gift card.   But the host who brings the most guests will win a $100 gift card.

Please note that your guests will need to tell the hostess your first and last name to enter the VIP area, which is now the downstairs bar.  Making the downstairs more private is the result of customer feedback, said Maddy Pinckert, BlackFinn's Promotions Manager.  She noted it will make a buffet arrangement more accessible to VIP guests.

To sign up for table service, email mpinckert@BlackFinnBethesda.com.  

This is a bit more modest of a table or bottle service program than you would find in Vegas or even some spots in DC.  But, as I noted, BlackFinn's table service won't drain your bank account like those other clubs' pricing would.

This is a good start, and the growing popularity of such offerings is a positive for downtown Bethesda.

Bethesda had a very promising initial transformation.  And we have quite a few great nightspots like BlackFinn.  But we are at a crossroads here.

We need to not only recapture the momentum, but take this opportunity to definitively move ahead of other cities in the DC area.

Why can't Bethesda be the first city in Montgomery County to have a 50-story building?  And then 75 and 100 after that.  Who decided we would suddenly take a back seat to White Flint (please!) in building heights?  I refuse to accept second best as a lifelong Bethesda resident, and so should you!

The same goes for the Bethesda nightlife scene.  Adding table service and other VIP touches is a step in exactly the right direction.

Bethesda has the level of income to support at least one or more new, very swanky nightspots.  I'm not aware of any plans, within residential buildings currently under construction, to add new nightclubs.

But with at least two upscale hotels nearing groundbreaking in downtown Bethesda (including a Westin on Wisconsin Avenue), why can't we have a venue like Pure or TAO in Vegas?  Or something equivalent?  Are we trying to be the premiere urban area for young people, or not?  Sure, some people find bottle service, or rope line waits outside, pretentious.  That's not a reason to aim low.  I don't know if you've been to a place in DC that doesn't just aspire to Vegas, L.A. or South Beach, but matches it?  I haven't.  I'm not criticizing DC, because they are currently ahead of us.  But what if Bethesda were to aim higher?

That's why I advocate for just such a spot here in Bethesda.  Does it really cost that much, in the grand scheme of things, to hire a C-list, reality show celebrity to come in and host once a week?  How about some more rooftop pool venues, Vegas style (TAO Beach, etc.)?  Or are we content to play second banana to DC pool parties?  I'm not.

So I for one applaud the new trend of table service, and if you've got a group that isn't planning to bar-hop all night, it's well worth giving Thirsty Thursday a try at BlackFinn.  These sort of experiments will position BlackFinn well for the future of Bethesda nightlife.

BlackFinn Bethesda, 4901 Fairmont Avenue.