The landscape of bars and restaurants in Adams Morgan faces drastic change if the District’s liquor control board adopts an amendment to the rules governing the hot spot neighborhood.
The Alcoholic Beverage Control Board has scheduled an Oct. 11 hearing to consider capping at 10 the number of licensed taverns in the heart of Adams Morgan, and cutting off all future conversions of restaurant liquor licenses to tavern licenses.
Today, Adams Morgan is teeming with bars and clubs that operate under restaurant licenses, which require an establishment to earn at least 45 percent of its gross annual receipts from food sales, or up to $2,000 per restaurant seat.
But the District soon will start auditing “restaurants” to ensure they meet the standards — provoking an avalanche of conversion applications in the past year.
The last thing the neighborhood needs is multiplying taverns, one local leader said.
“Our goal is to stop the conversion of restaurant licenses, which were taken out with the clear understanding that there was a food service requirement with that, into tavern licenses, which if left unchecked, will take 18th Street in Adams Morgan beyond the Bourbon Street atmosphere it already enjoys and into the bowels of hell,” said Alan Roth, an Adams Morgan advisory neighborhood commissioner.
Roth said the businesses should have three options: Come into compliance, lobby the D.C. Council to create a middle-ground license or leave the neighborhood.
Of Adams Morgan’s 34 licensed restaurants, six have applied for a tavern license, according to the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration: Heaven & Hell, Rendezvous Lounge, Asylum, Saki, Chloe and Ventnor Sports Cafe — though owner Scott Auslander said he’s withdrawing. As it stands today, there are only 11 licensed taverns in the neighborhood.
“The reason that I’m applying is my concern is that I will not be able to meet the requirements,” said Alireza Hajaligholi, co-owner of Chloe and Saki. “I have to protect my business and my family and my partner.”
Adams Morgan was designated in 2000 as a moratorium zone for new bar, club and tavern licenses after a litany of complaints of violence, noise, public drunkenness and litter. The moratorium was renewed in 2005.
