Second Street Restart
By floor9 on Jul 1, 2006 in Downtown
I wanted to say “reloaded”, but that’s somehow managed to become such a cliche that it would sound more like a bad Eclipse commercial than an even remotely interesting post. That’s not to say that this post is even remotely interesting, but it certainly is not a bad Eclipse commercial. Anyway, I was walking down Second Street last night, past the newly re-opened Privé, and I started to think:
Are we seeing natural selection in progress?
Consider this: What have we seen on Second Street in the past 18 months? There’s Noma, which was run into the ground, turned into a beach club, run back into the ground, turned BACK into a martini bar, and finally beaten senseless into the ground by bold Arial neon yellow signage. Mars was stripped of anything remotely resembling “interesting” and made into a sports bar, complete with mis-labelled pool tables. Fisaga … well, nobody really knows exactly what’s going on with Fisaga these days. Dragonfly hasn’t changed (although to their credit, they’re the only club running niche formats like Latin and Baltimore Club), Eclipse hasn’t changed, and for all practical purposes, the eastern side of the street hasn’t changed much.
We do have a diner, though. The one thing downtown patrons have been asking — BEGGING — for continually for the past five years has finally materialized. Unfortunately, it closes promptly at 2.
But take a look at Max’s. It has come out of nowhere to become the one place that everyone said couldn’t exist in Harrisburg: a decent, upscale lounge playing nothing but dance and house tracks. Consider Cafe Fresco: smoke-free, trendy, and nothing if not a little on the pricey side. Even The Quarter feels like it’s coming to terms with its opening snafus nicely (though those prices … come on). And for the 85-and-over crowd, Maxine’s offers walker-friendly access to their Moose-style bar.
Not one of these places is revolutionary. Every city has an upscale lounge, every city has a themed club, and every city has senior housing. But they all appear successful, and most likely for the same reason: They’re new to Harrisburg.
I think it’s safe to say that Harrisburgers are burnt out on ads that lead with “downtown Harrisburg will NEVER be the same again” and wind up announcing a “revolutionary” concept like $2 bottles from 8-9. Rather than repeat the rhetoric, we’ve got a handful of places that seem to have dug themselves in pretty firmly by actually delivering something different.
You won’t find a shoulder-to-shoulder crowd at Max’s. And nobody at Max’s will call this a bad thing. You won’t come out of Cafe Fresco smelling like 5-week-old Marlboros. And you won’t hear The Quarter trying to bill “Holla Back Girl” as “the hottest club music in central PA”. But with Max opening up Prive in the old Noma haunt, does anyone else feel like a major shift is heading for downtown?
I do, albeit very slooowly. Hardware Bar and Eclipse still pack them in, and you still get a strange look from the average Harrisburger when you say you DON’T like those places. Until that mindset ends, HBG will be the same. Again, I do think it is heading in the direction of the shift, though…
I think what it comes down to is the DT regulars are getting older and their tastes are changing. HBG doesn’t have the draw of major universities (yet) like most cities do, so the younger crowd is not being refreshed every year. The kids who do turn 21 over the summer are usually long gone after the summer for school (or gone for good). Because of all of these factors together, DT is shifting…
Dave | Jul 1, 2006 | Reply
i think there’s been a quiet evolution for months. there is suddenly a lot of variety / choices, which wasn’t avialble (or at least apparent) a year or so ago. many people will be fully content with going to the hardware bar and singing along to bon jovi covers (or, to paraphrase jarvis cocker, “donig whatever it is common people do”) - but it’s no longer the single option. the dwindling patronage of the south street tavern and formerly noma remixed show that smaller places that are pretty much hardware bar-lite venues cannot survive.
also, i think a lot of the new places do succeed based on their new-ness / buzz; but a lot of them will do well in the long run as they are starting to gain a core set of patrons. max’s will always do well based on it’s vicinity to the hotels alone - max’s and prive are the places you want to go if you are a business man, not top-40 lite. maxine’s has people who would feel out of place anywhere else. cafe fresco has… some people… i guess.
diversity always leads to growth. people still do and will always flock to eclipse and the tom sawyer (i can’t believe the mechanical bull rumor is actually true), but i won’t… and there are now places to go for people like me who don’t buy into the frat mentality.
cosby | Jul 2, 2006 | Reply
cosby… you seem down on cafe fresco quite a bit. i am curious as to why? they are always packed, the food is outstanding, the prices are even better. the live music they offer on friday/saturday is outstanding and the atmosphere isn’t… well… anything like eclispe. of all of the new venues downtown, i would call cafe fresco the most successful because they have developed an enormous core patronage without any real gimmicks (except maybe no smoking, but i don’t see that as gimmicky).
i hope downtown is shifting… because its lost my business. there is more to life than OMGPARTYBAR!!!! and Irish Pubs. sure, if i want a quite night, i’ll go to max’s or jackie blue (hilton out door bar in the summer), but for the most part 2nd street doesn’t have much appeal anymore, to me at least.
Mak | Jul 5, 2006 | Reply
i have nothing against fresco, i quite like it. everytime i walk by, it seems to be empty. maybe i’m about the town at strange hours, but i never see too much going on there…
cosby | Jul 5, 2006 | Reply
real quick… i did go to “prive” tonight. i dig that place. had a good vibe. for the first time in a few years, i actually saw people there too!!
great drink menu!
Mak | Jul 7, 2006 | Reply
When doing a sound system in a “nightclub” there are only a few names that you should really be dealing with. Not that over the counter garbage like the stuff thats in Dragonfly, Eclipse, Hardware bar and all the other so called “nightclubs” in this area. The foundation for a “Nightclub” is its sound system. Take every single club in NYC, LV, Miami,LA and the one thing they all have in common is Superior sound custom made by one of these names:
–Turbosound ( Pure LV , Ice LV, Central Fly NYC )
–GSANY ( Sound Factory NYC, Ministry of Sound UK,Sound Factory Miami )
–Phazon ( Crobar Miami,NYC Twilo NYC,Miami )
–Systems by Shorty ( Stereo Montreal )
–Alpha Dynacord ( Pacha NYC, Space Miami, Rain LV, Mynt Miami )
–Funktion-One ( Creamfields )
–EAW ( Mansion, Prive, Opium Garden, Amika Miami )
Let me know what you think.
Big Ron J | Jul 20, 2006 | Reply
Eclipse uses EAW.
I’ve heard Phazon. It wasn’t terribly impressive. Might’ve been the DJ, though.
floor9 | Jul 20, 2006 | Reply
I know for a fact that the Hardware Bar (York & Harrisburg), Dragonfly & Eclipse all have CUSTOM bass arrays in their buildings. Had you ever been there, you would notice that the sound in these places, though loud, is always very clean and clear. Great house systems.
Mak | Jul 20, 2006 | Reply
Ice Las Vegas uses Funktion-One!
Justin | Jul 21, 2006 | Reply
That system in Eclipse is no more than:
4 EAW DC2
4 EAW DCS2 ( Rated @ 1000m. RMS ) per box
At its peak all your gonna get out of that shit is about 6,000watts. Some people have more in their cars. That stuff is just boxes you open up, plug in and press play. Trust me I know my stuff.
Big Ron J | Jul 23, 2006 | Reply
9 didnt you say eclipse has the same sound system as avlon
burgi | Jul 24, 2006 | Reply
They have the same mains as Avalon. The EAW DC2 was custom-built for Avalon NYC, if I remember correctly. It has a fairly unique \”flat\” design, ideal for flying in venues that don\’t have much space. This site has them for sale, though I think he typical going rate is closer to $2000 a piece (installed) right now. For comparison, Dragonfly\’s mains (off the top of my head, JBL Pro SRX series, though I may be off) cost about $1200 these days.
For the record, I was never a fan of JBL until I heard the system at Dragonfly. In fact, on opening night I was very disappointed to see those orange shields all over the place. While not the best system I\’ve ever heard, Dragonfly\’s is pretty good. Right now it suffers a little, because the DSP was set for dance music on vinyl when the system was brand new back in 2002 and has never been adjusted since. Now the system\’s a little older, and we have DJs using CD, laptop, and vinyl, and playing salsa and hip hop. Doesn\’t quite work as well.
So the speakers aren\’t everything; a good sound engineer can take mid-range equipment and make it rock, while a poorly-designed top-shelf system will sound like trash.
floor9 | Jul 25, 2006 | Reply