Quote:
Originally Posted by djh
Making a high-end venue doesn't make the people who frequent it automatically become high-end. This has been tried time and time again in Vancouver - think of the poor guys who licensed LA's Skybar and launched it to much hype and huge expense on Smithe / Granville, a few years back. Lovely 3-floor building, open-air patio, 3 bars, food service, great VIP area...3 years later it's now an Irish Pub!
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. It's gonna be many a decade before the Average Joe Vancouverite wants to take off his working man's cap, put on some shoes instead of trainers, pull up his pants from around his bum and not get so drunk he punches-out the nearest person who looks at him and shouts "WOOHOO!!!" and dances the hick-dance in celebration. Geez...it's so "Wild West" going clubbing down Granville, I weep for the days back at MoS and Fabric and Cargo.
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Keep in mind that Skybar (no affiliation with the LA club) is now an Irish Pub (although the owner is still the same), did not close down due to lack of business, rather because city hall did everything in its power to make life miserable for the operators. (If ever there was a glaring example of the cities' caustic attitude towards business, this was it, almost to WallMart proportions) . So rather than loosing revenue while he fought the city in the courts, the owner finally gave up and went to a quieter, more bland form of bar entertainment.