Beijing Boyce

For six months, readers have been asking me to do a Beijing bar and club death watch. I am hesitant to do so, simply, well, because it doesn’t seem very nice. Honestly, who didn’t see the Klubb Rouge closing coming, not to mention those of some other bars and clubs. And there are plenty more in big doodoo.

So, I have come up with a compromise. I don’t want to make a list – not when I am spending my days eagerly awaiting the opening of Cro Bar (I guess that place’s definition of “soon” is measured in half-years rather than weeks) – but those who want to do so can make their picks in the comments section. So, death watch yourselves to, uh, death.

UPDATE: I’ve already had a suggestion to give a prize for the best death watch guess. Let me mull that one over – I do have an expired case of Budweiser at home…

It's always fun until someone loses an eye.

A few people recently asked me what became of Project H, the club backed by Spencer Grey and numerous investors that had a planned July opening on the top two floors – which includes a deck with a spectacular view – of New Nali Studio facing the Sanlitun bar strip proper.

The answer: nothing. I gather a landlord-tenant dispute over rent and other issues has been settled and the project is dead. Which means that prime spot is available.

The planned branch of Muse, which has looked ready to open for half a year in the building squeezed between New Nali Studio and 3.3, also didn’t open.

Remember last May when Klubb Rouge and the new China Doll opened to much fanfare, when people joked about having two China Dolls in Sanlitun (in Tongli and 3.3), and when we seemed destined for a future of life-affirming sunshine and gumdrop smiles, lollipops and unicorns? So do I (well, except for that last part).

Eight months later, Klubb Rouge is shuttered except for one-off events (it hosted one Friday), Club China Doll is for rent (posters are plastered all over Tongli), and as of yesterday China Doll 3.3 is at least taking a little hiatus. According to sources there, it closed for remodeling of its lounge and will be “hibernating” for a few months (good choice of word, given the bear market). As the place was packed during the Olympics and charged covers of up to RMB500, I suppose something spectacular is in the works.