Shootings, a stabbing, shady people and cheap drinks have all been part of the rumored image of The District nightclub in recent years. This image is why the owners have temporarily shut down the club in an attempt to establish a new look and clientele.
The club experienced plenty of business. There were huge crowds on the weekend as well as decent summer and weekday attendance. But along with that came calls to the police nearly every weekend. Fights, assaults and a stabbing that occurred in mid-September plagued the club’s reputation.
“There were huge crowds,” said Phoenix Vaughn, The District co-owner @@http://www.lookupbook.com/directory/associations-and-membership-organizations/or/eugene/the-district@@”but we want a little bit of a different crowd.”
According to Vaughn, there were too few students, which was supposed to be their target demographic. With the school year soon to be starting, it was time to revamp the club and their image. Currently, there is no set reopening date, but they’re aiming for as early as the Civil War game.
“We’ll be renaming the club. We’ll have new management, new lights and potentially a new sound system,” Vaughn said. “We want to focus more on students.”
For University senior Jocelyn Schofield@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Jocelyn+Schofield@@, the club provided her with some mixed experiences over her many visits.
“A couple of times I was approached by really intoxicated people that later in the night needed to be removed,” Schofield said.
She typically visited the club earlier in the night to get deals on drinks. Because of this, she didn’t see the same kind of activity that is often associated with the club. However, she did witness one fight occur outside the club.
“I was inside so I never felt threatened,” Schofield said. “But it was broken up pretty quickly.”
Schofield believes it to be more than the patrons’ fault that the bar ended up with such a rowdy crowd.
“You could get really strong drinks, really cheap,” Schofield said. After witnessing a girl puke on the bar, it was clear to her that the bartenders were not watching carefully enough.
“The bartender should be aware of that. They needed to cut her off but they didn’t,” Schofield said. But that wasn’t enough to prevent her from going. “There was a really strong dance presence on the weekends, and that was really fun.”
As The District’s co-owner, Vaughn is hoping that the eventual reopening will provide results similar to Schofield’s. New security measures will be added all around the building to prevent more fights outside the club and in the parking lot.
“There is a lot of violence that goes on downtown, not just at The District,” Vaughn said. “Somehow it got really focused on us. But we’re still looking to clean it up.”
According to Eugene Police Department spokesperson Jenna McCulley@@http://www.eugene-or.gov/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=273&PageID=3997&cached=true&mode=2&userID=2@@, this rings true.
“It is definitely not the only place, but it is one of the ones that had frequent calls for service,” she said. “It’s sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy. That kind of atmosphere is expected, so it is drawn there.”
The EPD’s sentiment is in agreement with Schofield’s observation that adding alcohol to that kind of environment only makes things worse. But in an effort to fix this, the club will be instituting a zero-tolerance policy for violence in its reopening.
“We will have a no-tolerance policy for any gang activity or any violence of any kind,” Vaughn said.
Anyone who is removed for those reasons will be permanently banned from the club.
Plans are in the works to start a shuttle from campus to the club, and security will be taking a closer look at the people trying to get it. Among other policy changes, the decor will be changed and there will be a new focus on electronic music@@finally, the end to DJ Foodstamp and his music@@. Vaughn is also looking into community-outreach activities and working with charities.
But more than anything, the hope is to leave their old image in the past.
“We’re breaking ties from the past,” Vaughn said. “We want to separate and finally leave that all behind.”