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I remember a time,
roughly about 7 years ago, when I loved Riverfront (Downtown Fort
Lauderdale).
Me, Tommy and Marc
used to go there at least 5-6 times a week. It was there, at Iguana
Cantina, that we first got the idea for BrowardHotSpots.
Downtown was the
place to be back then. The clubs and bars were all packed and the streets
were lined with good looking people just partying and having a good time.
I stopped going
there about 3 years ago. By then Downtown Fort Lauderdale had gone from a
great place to party to a complete shithole.
The good natured
people that used to line the streets were gone and in their place were a
bunch of underage gangbangers that would stand on the corners and harass
every single female that walked past them.
This also led to a
countless amount of fights every night.
And I don't know how
it happened but apparently Riverfront is the unofficial homeless person
headquarters for Broward County.
We would get hit up
for our spare change almost immediately after parking. In any given night
we would get panhandled at least 3 or 4 times.
The people that used
to go there were starting to go to South Beach instead.
Since we hated Miami
we were very close to giving up clubbing all together.
Then the Hard Rock
opened and changed everything. Now we can enjoy a night out without all
the bullshit.
The great thing
about Hard Rock is that they're on private property (unlike Riverfront)
and because of this they can tell anyone they want to leave.
At the Hard Rock the
whole outside complex where the clubs are located has a 21 and older
policy and they enforce a dress code before you even get to any of the
clubs. That alone is reason enough to go out there.
Not to mention that
parking is free at the Hard Rock. And there is no last call. Fort
Lauderdale has a 4am liquor license, Hard Rock's clubs are open and
serving until 6-7am every weekend.
Plus you can go
gamble at the machines, play some poker or if you get too drunk to drive
home you can even get a room at the hotel and sleep it off.
Why am I writing all
this now? Well I've been going to and working at the Hard Rock now for
over 2 years and haven't been to Riverfront in ages.
Tonight I was
running some errands with Marc, and since we were in that area, we decided
to drive past one of the clubs that was having some kind of an event.
We ended up at the
stoplight right in front of the club and about 4 or 5 people that we knew
were in the line right next to us. They all came over to the car and said
hello.
As they walked away
some random guy comes and leans into my car reaching his hand in like we
knew him. We told the guy to back up, that we didn't know him.
He asked if we could
give him a few dollars. We told him no. His next question baffled me. He
very angrily said "it's cause I'm black?"
Since this had
absolutely nothing to do with race, very sarcastically, I replied "yea
that's exactly why". And he starts calling me a racist and yelling at us.
He was letting us know that he just got out of prison. Me, being the
antagonist that I am, said I can see why he was in there.
After he kept
approaching the car me and Marc finally stepped out. He started to walk
away so we got back in the car. That's when he came back even louder.
Calling us cowards
and homosexuals. In Marcs case he got 1 out of 2 right. (just kidding
Marc)
One of my friends looked at me like what the hell is going on and I told
him this guy was acting like I had just called him a "nappy headed ho".
Obviously we had
nothing to gain by kicking the shit out of this guy so we just drove off
as he continued to yell out obscenities.
This is exactly the
type of experience that reminds me of how good we have it over at the Hard
Rock. They run a tight ship there and for the most part they do it very
well.
With that being
said, I don't know why anyone would still frequent Downtown Fort
Lauderdale. Unless of course they enjoy sharing the area with the thugs
and homeless people. |
