Updates on Club Six and The Hole in the Wall

Back in April I wrote about the difficulties being faced by the venerable "dirty little biker bar," The Hole in the Wall Saloon, as they tried to move to a new location, while in late May I wrote about Club 6's struggle to deal with noise complaints being filed by residents of the SRO hotel above the club. Though a bit late with the reporting on my side, it looks like both situations have reached some accomodation. According to this Examiner article, the Hole in the Wall was expected to get clearance for the move from the Planning Commission, while Jim Meko, who also sits on the Entertainment Commission and was fingered as the ringleader for neighborhood groups who opposed the move, said he would drop his protest of the bar's move to the ABC Board if the planning commission gives it the stamp of approval. Meanwhile, according to this Examiner article, Club 6 went before the Entertainment Commission and got slapped with a 30-day license suspension, but this was held in abeyance, seeing as how the club owner, Angel Cruz, had taken steps to rebuild the ceiling of the club so that noise levels above it wouldn't exceed 88dB. However, if the club violates the noise ordinance within the next 120 days, they'll face another 60 day suspension in addition to the 30 days held in abeyance - in other words, they'd have to close down for three months, and that would probably be the end of Club 6.

Meanwhile, the Eastern Neighborhoods Draft Impact Report was just released this week, and it includes three options for re-zoning the Eastern Neighborhoods, which includes SoMa. Since the Eastern Neighborhoods represent some of the largest tracts of space available for residential development, there's sure to be some impact on the ability of clubs to open, or even function, in the area that has been traditionally reserved for them. According to the Examiner article Entertainment Commissioners Terrance Alan and Bowman Leong are working with members of a civil grand jury to determine the future of entertainment in the area. Let's hope that they are able to figure out a way to bring some badly needed housing development to the area while also still maintaining what remains of San Francisco club culture.