After the Storm(y)

This past Monday and Tuesday marked Cloakroom’s “Grand Opening” with performances by Stormy Daniels. With Ms. Daniels safely out of DC, I stopped by Thursday to see an old favorite who now dances there. Cloakroom had been closed since the building partially collapsed in 2014, and began a soft re-opening a month or two ago.

Some tedious background about DC clubs. Since the City Fathers decided to clean up the old 14th Street honky-tonks in the 1970s (Google Rep. Wilbur Mills and Fannie Foxx if you’re inclined), it has been nearly impossible to open a strip club in a new location or to move a license from an existing (grandfathered) club to another address. As a consequence, clubs sometimes just carry on (Royal Palace), sometimes change names (Joanna’s 1819 Club, now Mpire), or just disappear (the 1720 Club).but their addresses never change. In the ‘90s, the neighborhood around 476 K St. NW was pretty sketchy, and the club at the time—Louis’ Rogue—was a dive bar with naked women. As gentrification of this part of town progressed, the Rogue became Cloakroom, until nearby construction did the building in. Today, this is an upscale part of Northwest DC. The new Cloakroom looks like it belongs; we’ll see whether the new Yuppie neighbors let it live on.

Now, back to the review. I arrived just as the club was opening (6:00 pm). Greeted by a doorman/bouncer and sent up a flight of stairs to the main level. Receptionist asked for a $20 “entertainment fee” and in return I received a ticket good for a free drink up to $20 in value (the “free” drink offer ends at 9:00). The club begins to the left of the reception desk, and the overall impression is a modern, high-end nightclub—no doubt a fortune has been invested in lighting and sound. A rectangular stage fills the center of the room, with the bar on one side (barstools have an excellent stage view). Several seating areas fill out the main floor. The floor above is home to the VIP rooms and “skyboxes;” this floor is open in the center over the stage, glass fronts on the rooms above give a “balcony” view of the stage, poles extending two stories up. The top floor is a roof deck/smoking area, but I was told it was not yet open.