DNA Lounge license could be stripped
By: Andrea Koskey
Examiner Staff Writer
February 23, 2009
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| ‘Misbehaving boys’: DNA Lounge’s general manager says the incident that has the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control in a tizzy was an isolated incident. (Cindy Chew/The Examiner) |
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SAN FRANCISCO — A SoMa nightclub may face closure after a complaint filed by the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control about “lewd” acts at gay events — a claim club owners say is asinine.
The department is threatening to revoke the liquor license at DNA Lounge for “lewd” and “lascivious” behavior after department agents witnessed nudity and risqué behavior at four events last spring.
“We were expecting a fine or a 10-day closure,” said general manager Barry Synoground. “But they’re taking a hard line. It’s killing us.”
Though he does not agree with the charges, Synoground said the club is not innocent. He acknowledged that a few gay events held at the 11th Street location last spring did have some “misbehaving boys,” but said shutting the place down for isolated incidents is absurd.
“If they get caught, we send them home,” he said of patrons. “We’re not running a strip club.”
This started, Synoground said, when the 21-and-older nightclub turned into an all-ages music venue last summer.
In order to broaden its audience and offer more music and food to all ages, Synoground said they applied for a different type of liquor license. Synoground claimed the ABC sent undercover agents simply to find misconduct.
Synoground said the gay and lesbian events have been discontinued since the ABC’s complaint.
ABC spokesman John Carr confirmed the department filed a complaint against DNA Lounge. Carr could not comment further on the matter. A hearing was held last month on the issue.
The spat comes after The City has increasingly been trying to regulate nightclubs and enacting a noise ordinance, anti-loitering ordinances and other measures.
Last summer, The Examiner reported on proposed legislation that would fine those who loitered outside nightclubs for more than three minutes up to $500.
The ordinance was a result of increased violence, including assaults, drug offenses, thefts, vandalism and robberies around nightclubs.
San Francisco Entertainment Commissioner Jim Meker said though most of the nightclub permits are concentrated around SoMa, violence is more of a problem for the commission than the acts reported at the DNA Lounge.
Meker said he supported the club’s transitions to an all-ages venue, but not the acts the ABC is contesting.
“If the ABC caught [the acts] on video, then security should’ve seen it,” he said.
DNA Lounge
Location: 375 Eleventh St.
Opened: 1985
