Councilmember Tom Rasmussen and I walked the Capitol Hill Pike-Pine Street nightlife scene last night (Friday, Aug 29) starting at 10 p.m. Brian Hawksford and Nigel Herbig, two of our legislative aides, joined us, as did a few police officers from the East Precinct.
East Precinct Captain Paul McDonagh led our walking tour; that's McDonagh in the photo explaining how police interact with club security staff. We visited eight clubs, entering most for quick walk-throughs.
Several things impressed me, beyond the fact that I'm far, far too old for the club scene. McDonagh and his officers were on a first-name basis with almost all of the club and bar security staff we encountered. The clubs were not heavily attended, except for R's, but there were no problems. McDonagh explained that in the past year club owners, security staff, and police have open stronger communications links and there have been fewer problems in recent months.
No doubt, the clubs create a lot of noise from the bands and DJ's performing inside. But, generally, we observed a pretty tame night.