An End to Chaos
Owner dispels rumors of new location coming
Club Chaos has officially closed for good.
Owner Carlos Aguilar confirmed the fact while exiting a ”show cause” hearing with D.C.’s Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) Board last Thursday, June 26.
”For this particular location, Club Chaos is done,” Aguilar said of the 17th Street venue. ”If we were to do anything in the future, it would be under a new name, a new company, a new everything.”
Aguilar went on to say that there is no truth to recent rumors that Club Chaos might be relocating above or near the Crew Club, a men’s gym located at 1321 14th St. NW.
”I don’t know who started that rumor,” he said, adding that he’s not completely ruling out opening a new club in the District, ”if we find a location where we wouldn’t be attacked by the neighborhood association.”
Club Chaos was in business for roughly a decade at 1603 17th St. NW before closing earlier this year after an order from the ABC Board forced Aguilar to stop producing Chaos’ entertainment events, including Drag Bingo and dancing as the venue was licensed as a restaurant, not a nightclub.
The Dupont Circle Citizens Association (DCCA) and 17 independent residents protested Chaos’ license renewal in the summer of 2007, citing that ”peace, order, quiet, cleanliness and public safety problems remain unacceptable especially when Club Chaos closes at 2 a.m. on weeknights, and 3 a.m. on weekends.”
”When they took away our entertainment endorsement, within a month we couldn’t even pay the rent anymore,” Aguilar told Metro Weekly following the June 26 hearing. ”We couldn’t even pay the employees, because nobody was coming. Within a month we were done. We were fried.”
The status of Club Chaos became a topic of interest in mid-June, when witnesses reported that furnishings from the club had been deposited on the curb outside the venue.
While Aguilar’s attorney would not offer comment regarding Thursday’s meeting, Cynthia Woodruff-Simms, community resource officer for the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration (ABRA), says Aguilar met with the ABC Board regarding a Nov. 11, 2007, incident that occurred at the club.
”In this case, the issue appears to have been an incidence of violence,” said Woodruff-Simms. ”An individual was punched in the face while trying to leave the club, and it had not been addressed before.”
Woodruff-Simms says it’s normal for the process to take this long.
”Any kind of incident that occurs of this nature, dealing with violence or anything like that, will go through the ABC Board. The ABC Board will determine if they should go to a ‘show cause’ [hearing].”
Chaos’ next appearance before the board to address the November incident has been set for Aug. 6.
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