Aug 16th, 2007
Blue Gin - Promoting Segregation in DC
Back in the day when I was at Georgetown, there was a place called Champs. Champs was a filthy establishment where Georgetown jocks would mingle with drunken freshmen girls, and beer was the drink of choice. I hated Champs with a passion and was relatively apathetic when it finally went out of business and was replaced by Blue Gin, which in many ways seems the antithesis of Champs.
Switching gears for a moment, I want to talk about Shabeh Jomeh. Shabeh Jomeh refers to the beginning of the weekend for Persians and traditionally is a night for socializing. In the US, there are numerous Shabeh Jomeh events where Persians meet up at bars, have drinks, look for spouses, etc.
So I’m on a mailing list for Shabeh Jomeh in DC and normally disregard the e-mails (to this date I have yet to actually attend one). I received one this morning that did pique my curiosity a bit.
According to the e-mail, the Shabeh Jomeh coordinator met with the Blue Gin promoter to discuss terms of the Shabeh Jomeh events moving forward. As the story goes, the Blue Gin promoter stated, “As you know, Georgetown is a predominantly white neighborhood. Blue Gin hired me because they want to cater to that predominantly white crowd and they know that I can bring them that crowd. . .D.C. is different than New York. In New York everyone hangs out together, but D.C. is segregated. Latinos hang out with Latinos, blacks hang out with blacks, and whites hang out with whites.”
The end result of the conversation being, that the Shabeh Jomeh crowd could hold events at Blue Gin but they would be restricted to the second floor because they wouldn’t “blend” with the predominantly white crowd that normally frequented the establishment.
The incident is currently under legal investigation, and the attorneys recommended an ‘opinion poll’ be distributed. Err…I think they mean a ‘push poll,’ but that’s okay, I don’t mind the push polling because otherwise I wouldn’t have found out about the racism at Blue Gin.
Anyway, Blue Gin sucked to begin with. It almost sucked as bad as Smith Point. Now, I can guarantee with 100% assurance that I will never return there and I have good reason to dissuade others from going there.
[...] (Drift Reality) Back in the day when I was at Georgetown, there was a place called Champs. Champs was a filthy establishment where Georgetown jocks would mingle with drunken freshmen girls, and beer was the drink of choice. I hated Champs with a passion and was relatively apathetic when it finally went out of business and was replaced by Blue Gin, which in many ways seems the antithesis of Champs. [...]