Avalon Nightclub

Avalon Nightclub was located at 306 W Franklin St., where 3 birds marketing business is now located. Avalon opened in June 2002, replacing Gotham, and then closed in July 2006, due to several police reports such as larceny, trespassing, disturbances, and then a fatal shooting. According to the WRAL News, Kedrain Swann was shot 12 times and died at the hospital shortly after.

Avalon started out to be a promising nightclub, so what happened? According to several different sources it seems evident the main reason it closed down was because of the violence that occurred at this location, there were over 100 police reports on various things that happen at that address between 2002 and 2006 (Source: Chapel Hill Police Reports). Not all, but several of these reports were serious incidents as well.

Unfortunately I was unable to contact the former owner, but I was able to conduct about 20 interviews with mostly college students and some Chapel Hill residence. I found that all of the college students who had knowledge of Avalon consistently reported that they thought it closed because of the shooting, and several said that the violence this club experienced was probably due to the type of crowd that Avalon brought in. One student stated, “I think it had more to do with the mix of black students and black residents of the community, it seemed like they just couldn't get along.” Whereas another student said, “it’s not necessarily that black students and black residents can’t get along, it’s probably just that small gangs or like enemies from different neighborhoods in the area are just trying to claim it since it was like something new to claim.” On the other hand, I got the opinion of a few residents who have lived in Chapel Hill over 20 years. They said that the reason Avalon didn’t last, or any black club for that matter, is because quote “you have people coming from UNC, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Hillsborough, Durham, Greensboro, Raleigh, etc., meaning you have a lot of people coming from all over.” They continued to explain, “All these different groups in one place probably won’t get along so well, and different gangs may be involved as well.” They also made the point that there aren’t any other black clubs anywhere else, thus if one opens anywhere, from Greensboro to Raleigh, they all come to it. They explained why black people would come from so far away to go to a club, “these people just want something to do, anything, there isn’t anything for them in their own city, like clubs, activities, and such so once they hear of a new place that’s opened they’re there.” We then discussed how having such a big and diverse crowd can produce problems regardless of the people who attend. In other words, race, disability, culture, heritage, etc. has nothing to do with this situation. “Although the news likes to blow it out of proportion just because it’s a black club,” they mentioned. With such a big diversified group there is always going to be trouble of some kind. I asked everyone I interviewed if they thought there would be less violence if there were stricter membership rules. Such as only college students and Chapel Hill residence allowed, would that make a difference perhaps? They most all said “probably,” and the Chapel Hill resident also add, “since you’d cut back on the diversity of groups you’d also reduce the disagreements between them.”