"Aye Where the Party At?" - A Look at Black Night Clubs in Chapel Hill

      136 East Rosemary

  

For many years, there have been clubs in Chapel Hill that have catered to a majority Black patronage. These clubs primarily features a live DJ, who spins top 40 Dance,  Hip Hop, Rap, Reggae, Go-Go, Baltimore club music, and etc. 

According to the Carolina Journalism Network,136 East Rosemary has been the home to many night clubs and bars for over 20 years. The most recent Black night clubs at this location was Club Chi Hi,  which closed in 2006 and then turned into Visions night club in 2007. Much could not be found on Club Chi Hi as its old website was closed and the numbers are now disconnected. However, Visions night club, was made notorious for its shooting in October 2007, when one patron opened fire, shooting and injuring two security guards and four bar patrons. This shooting occurred just a year after another shooting had occurred at another Black Night club, Avalon, down the street in the summer of 2006.  Similar to Avalon, Visions nightclub management announced its closing just days following the incident.  

 However, in February 2011, The Daily Tar Heel announced the space reopening. Junior, Richard Sergo, stated to the newspaper that he suggested opening a night club in that space to his family, who are now the owners of Pulse Night Club at this location. This night club now features a live DJ that plays dance, house, techno, and trance music. The club attracts a very mixed crowd. Since its Feb opening, Chapel Hill Police has been called to the location once for an alcohol overdose, but only time will tell to the sustainability of the club.

The Facts

This location has had several incidents ranging from misdemeanor offenses such as usage of a fake identification card, disorderly conduct, and petty larceny, to more serious offenses such as assault with a deadly weapon, sexual assault, and fighting. According to WRAL, the police had been called to Visions, members-only club, 30 times between January 2007 to October 2007. Public records indicate that compared to the local bars and clubs, such as Good Fellows and Players Night Club ,Visions has had more serious offenses, whereas the most serious offense between Good Fellows and Players is simple assault, which occurred in 2004 and assault on Leo (a security guard), which occurred in 2005. Good Fellows has only had two incidences, both were minor offenses. 

However, La Residence, a local bar, on Rosemary Street has had several minor offenses occur since 2001 and a serious offense, assault with a deadly weapon, that occurred in March of this year. 

What do these facts mean?

Not sure. A lot of the people that could provide some good insight would not comment, could not be reached to comment, or did not return any of my calls. 

However,  according to an WRAL news report, many of the downtown business owners commented in 2007 after the shooting that they are worried about their own businesses because of the amount of violence that seems to be connected with the downtown nightclub scene. Several people cited that a number of reasons could be the cause of increased violence and disturbances at Black Chapel Hill nightclubs, which results in there lack of sustainability. Some people argued that the type of music played in these clubs incites violence when alcohol is involved. Some suggested that there are tensions between Black Chapel Hillians and Black UNC student club-goers. In 2007, WRAL claimed that these problems might be affiliated with local gangs in the area that attend these clubs.  Outside of club incidences, these clubs seem to have several changes in management, resulting in frequent Black nightclub openings and closings.