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Maybe a new reason to have CAM meetups in Adams Morgan more often. TL;DR: Asylum is moving back to the basement level as it used to a long time ago, and they are changing the upstairs into a craft beer and bbq spot:
The 42: Asylum Due for Major Changes (http://the42bus.blogspot.com/2011/03/asylum-due-for-major-changes.html)
Prince Of Petworth » Blog Archive » Big Adams Morgan News: Asylum Rebranding Upstairs Bar Into a “Craft Beer Establishmentâ€. Win a $1,000 credit in a contest to name the new space (http://www.princeofpetworth.com/2011/03/big-adams-morgan-news-asylum-rebranding-upstairs-bar-into-a-craft-beer-establishment/)
Some history:
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One of my favorite Adams Morgan bars is headed for massive "back to the future"-like changes. Asylum Rock and Roll Lounge, which is 20 years young as of 2011, will revert back to a one level basement bar, giving up the top floor to another entity. It is located at 2471 18th St NW.
It originally opened as a one level basement bar, and although I've heard it referred to as a "biker bar" by various people over the years, it's really just a venue that tries to bring something a little different to the maddening AM bar scene. They have a decent selection of vegan food, serve a popular weekend brunch, have oddball movie nights (Parker Posey, Wes Anderson), started an alterna-speed dating night and hosted regular parties like "Reform School" (Catholic school girls, etc) and "Shorts" (admission meant wearing shorts--or less). Of all the bars on 18th St NW, I feel most at home here.
However, those events were made possible by presence of an upstairs portion of the bar, which was added more than 10 years after the original downstairs bar opened and more than doubled the capacity. Although the vegan friendly weekend brunch originated while Asylum was downstairs only, it really flourished in the upstairs, often resulting in long waits for a table and a full bar right at opening. A great scene. Gone are the days of Tuesday vegan happy hour, but it had a great run as well.
And the changes
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Lot of news coming out of Adams Morgan this week. And even more BBQ news this week.
Yesterday I received a panicked email from a reader titled, “Asylum leaving top space?!†citing a brief City Paper post via The 42.
For those not familiar with Asylum it is one of the older bars in Adams Morgan located at 2471 18th St, NW that has been around since 1991 â€" from their Website:
Asylum offers a vegetarian/vegan friendly food menu, daily drink specials, an internet jukebox, and live entertainment in a low-key atmosphere. Happy hour runs from 5-8pm daily that includes $1 off rail drinks and draft beers, .50 wings and $1.50 tacos. Asylum offers meat selections as well, a great place to go to satisfy everyone's palate.
Best known for the vegan brunch on Saturdays and Sundays, please come by from 11-4pm and enjoy the weekend chef specials and our house-made bloody mary's, vegan huevos rancheros, pancakes and French toast. Voted best vegan brunch by VegDC.com and Best of Washington. The Saturday Natty Light countdown is legendary.
On Wed. afternoon I had the opportunity to talk with Asylum owner (and Meridian Pint owner) John Andrade to get all the details.
So first of all it is true that changes are on the way â€" Asylum will be rebranding the upstairs bar. But for those concerned that another jumbo slice purveyor would be filling the space, fear not, it is going to become a craft beer establishment featuring BBQ. But perhaps equally important is that Asylum the bar will remain in the basement space.
All the details including a chance to win a $1000 credit to the upstairs bar after the jump.
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Since Asylum is “an incredible institution for 20 years nowâ€, Andrade says, it's not going anywhere and will continue to reside in the basement bar. However, with the craft beer scene exploding in DC, Andrade, believes that the transformation of the upstairs is essential to continue to be successful. Asylum's downstairs space will have one slight change â€" the pool table will be removed in order to make some room for more seating. Aside from that and a “fresh coat of paint†the downstairs space will remain the rock and roll, veggie serving bar that it is today.
Now for the upstairs. It will take a new name. And here's a pretty cool opportunity â€" John will host a competition for you guys to name the bar. And you get a lot more than bragging rights, the winner gets a $1000 credit to the new space. You can leave your entries in the comments here and/or a new facebook page for The New Asylum.
More about upstairs. As I mentioned it will be a craft beer establishment but in contrast to Meridian Pint it will not only have American craft beers but international ones as well. There will be 30-35 beers on tap and the size will remain the same with an occupancy of 75. While the space will continue to have its own separate entrance it will also continue to connect to the downstairs on the inside as well. The two spaces will share the same upgraded kitchen. Ah the kitchen. While downstairs you can still get the classic Asylum fare â€" upstairs will be BBQ-centric. While the emphasis will be on craft beer, Andrade sums up the upstairs as focusing on “beer, bbq and whiskeyâ€.
Now â€" when is it gonna happen? Andrade is going on his honeymoon in early June and plans on starting the upstairs facelift soon after he returns. The facelift is expected to take 3-4 weeks so the new space should open around late July.
In the meantime Asylum upstairs and downstairs will remain open and you have until May 1st to come up with a winning name for the space upstairs.
So, do you guys think a craft beer establishment focusing on bbq will be a good fit for the upstairs space? Do you think the basement space will be able to maintain its character?
where's the damn hyper link for submitting my suggestion for a new name for the upstairs?!?!?!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-New-Asylum/190447500992532 (http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-New-Asylum/190447500992532)
Quote from: zooom on March 17, 2011, 10:08:59 AM
where's the damn hyper link for submitting my suggestion for a new name for the upstairs?!?!?!
I've heard that the parking/sidewalks are changing in Adams Morgan as well. It is to be curbside parking...wondering what will happen to the designated bike area?
http://dcist.com/2010/09/adams_morgan_streetscape_project_wi.php# (http://dcist.com/2010/09/adams_morgan_streetscape_project_wi.php#)
Interesting. I have definitely seen the beginning stages of that work already. It will hopefully be a bit better when it's done. That is an interesting point though. If they are getting rid of diagonal parking, they could very easily get rid of the moto parking. I would really hope that there are some people involved that express the importance of the moto parking there to the people who put the project together. I would imagine at the least, that it may cut the parking in half so that it could only be one row of bikes instead of two. Damn, that sucks.
Quote from: dolci on March 17, 2011, 11:18:25 AM
I've heard that the parking/sidewalks are changing in Adams Morgan as well. It is to be curbside parking...wondering what will happen to the designated bike area?
http://dcist.com/2010/09/adams_morgan_streetscape_project_wi.php# (http://dcist.com/2010/09/adams_morgan_streetscape_project_wi.php#)
I doubt the parking will be touched - Asylum doesn't own that, DC does.
Well guess who didn't read the article before posting!
This would suck if they didn't replace the mcy parking with another mcy area like what the have in other parts of the city. The problem there though is usually the mcy-only restriction ends rather early. Also, there would be meters so no more free parking.
I don't understand removing a lane - there's already so much congestion.
And parallel parking - why would they want to reduce parking? There is almost no offstreet parking there. One small underground lot is all I'm aware of.
Wider sidewalks would be nice...
My guess is if this goes through a lot of places there will have a really tough time of it. As the article pointed out the businesses on P street took a bath with that project.