The Marx Cafe is one of the few nightspots in Mount Pleasant, popular among young professionals and college-age youths; or so I'm told, I'm much too old and stodgy for this sort of thing. Marx offers recorded music, and a disk jockey, for evening entertainment.
The name, by the way, stems from the original owner, Mark Peters, who plays up the Karl Marx implication ("revolutionary cuisine"). Recently the Cafe has been purchased by Aleks Duni, proprietor of Heller's Bakery, and a Greek immigrant, so some changes may be on the way.
Currently Alberto is seeking an "entertainment endorsement" so that he can again offer karaoke. He was required to file for this endorsement after the neighbors again complained about his karaoke, because Alberto's brother, visiting from El Salvador, and a professional mariachi singer, sang the karaoke a few nights. That, said the complaining neighbors, made it "live music", and hence a "violation".
In truth, the prohibition against live music is based on a fear that these restaurants would surreptitiously morph into night clubs, drawing large and noisy crowds onto the street, far into the night. Basically, live entertainment draws more customers, which the restaurant owners want, while certain nearby neighbors want their streets quiet, and free of people talking or reveling or otherwise causing disturbances far into the night. Currently the author of the "live music" prohibition is extending that prohibition to include both Don Juan's karaoke and the Marx Cafe's disk jockey.
Everyone agrees, I think, that we don't want the noisy late-night crowds that afflict Adams Morgan. But we're very far from that, and with only a few small restaurants even capable of offering entertainment, no significant crowds will ever come to Mount Pleasant. No buildings here are suitable for the big night clubs that draw crowds to the streets of Adams Morgan.
How do a few neighbors impose such draconian regulations on our restaurants? This is the infamous "voluntary agreement" process, by which as few as five residents can impose their rules on any alcohol-serving establishment, holding the liquor license hostage until the business owner yields to their demands. That a handful of people can control this process is clearly unfair to the thousands of residents who may disagree, wanting some entertainment possibilities close to home. Our restaurant owners also have a rough time, because they get little lunchtime business, and a single dinnertime seating won't cover their expenses.
I believe that we have to relax these regulations, so that Mount Pleasant residents can find some evening entertainment in their own neighborhood, and our restaurant owners can have a chance at making a living. I am currently proposing that the business owners be allowed some live music and other entertainment, with self-regulating mechanisms so that any problems that do crop up can be quickly dealt with.
About "voluntary agreements"
An update: on February 13, 2008, the District's Alcohol Beverage Control Board held an all-day hearing concerning entertainment endorsements, for live music, live entertainment, dancing, and cover charges, for Haydee's and Don Jaime's Restaurants. I spoke for the ANC in this hearing, supporting a termination to the live-music ban, and permits for live music, et cetera.
On April 23, the Board issued its decision: live music returns to Mount Pleasant!
This is the Mount Pleasant Mariachi Band, which is allowed to perform out on Mount Pleasant Street, but Mount Pleasant restaurant owners cannot invite them to perform inside their restaurants. To my knowledge, only in Mount Pleasant is live music banned.
The regulation imposed by a handful of neighbors is this, in its most recent form:
"Licensee shall permit no live music, DJ or live entertainment, cover charges nor charges for admission to the establishment, and shall not provide an atmosphere for dancing, or a dance floor for dancing, or permit the moving of tables and chairs for the purpose of dancing."
In short, patrons are allowed only to eat quietly in restaurants, and must not sing or dance. No fun allowed, not in Mount Pleasant!
In July, 2006, the Mount Pleasant ANC passed a resolution calling on the ABC Board to relax these stultifying conditions imposed on Mount Pleasant restaurants by these "voluntary agreements".
As the time for the renewal of Mount Pleasant's restaurant liquor licenses approached, residents in support of live music founded a neighborhood organization dedicated to that end: Hear Mount Pleasant. This group has done an outstanding job of collecting neighborhood sentiment in favor of ending the MPNA's ban on live music in Mount Pleasant. The April, 2008 issue of DC North has a well-balanced story on the live music dispute, and the battle between the MPNA and Hear Mount Pleasant.