New owners, new name for teen club on Sixth Street

BY MICHAEL BURKE
Journal Times

Tuesday, January 15, 2008 10:20 AM CST

RACINE — The teen club that opened last month Downtown has already undergone a change of ownership and name.

Chocolate City opened Friday at 522 Sixth St., replacing the short-lived teen club The Bricks. Despite a few problems that brought police Friday and Saturday nights, owner Thomas Holmes of Milwaukee says he has the formula and experience to make the club safe and successful.

"You will have some glitches, but you have to open to find out how to deal with it," he said Monday.

The Bricks had a mere three-week life inside the former Historic Century Market. Why it no longer exists remains murky, as numerous phone messages for co-founder Michael Rosales have gone unanswered. Nor has the building’s owner, Jim Spodick, returned calls for comment.

Holmes said he has an agreement with Spodick to buy the building and also will run the teen club. He is looking at various retail possibilities for the front, and the restaurant Sticky Rice will stay in the building.

Holmes, 50, owns two Milwaukee clubs, Amistad and Temptation Jazz & Blues, and said he has been in the business for about nine years. His partner in the venture is his son, Thomas Holmes Jr.

"My record is clear," Holmes said. He said he has worked closely with the Milwaukee Police Department and mayoral administration to make everyone happy.

"Milwaukee, they shut (clubs) down quick" if there is trouble, he said.

His plans for Chocolate City — named just for "something sweet," he said — sound very similar to those for the former club, The Bricks. It is nonalcoholic, nonsmoking, for ages 17-21 and catering to all races.

"We don’t tolerate arguing, fighting, gang signs, certain clothing, baseball caps ..." he said. "When we see it, we put them out.

"We take a picture, and you can’t come back."

Holmes used a hired security company, and people are subjected to checks and metal wands at the door, "top to

bottom." The owners also forbid purses, he said. And no one who leaves can return without paying a second admission fee.

Chocolate City opened New Year’s Eve, then reopened Friday and Saturday, its first two regular nights. The club had three visits from police those nights. The first was a loud-music complaint at 1:02 a.m. Saturday which police responded to; it was apparently handled without incident.

The next was a disorderly-conduct charge against a 15-year-old girl at 11:55 p.m. Saturday. Holmes said she likely raised a stink when she was kept out at the door; the actual police report was not immediately

available.

Police also responded to a call at 1:08 a.m. Sunday for a fight at Chocolate City. The club’s security people had already detained the two female 17-year-old combatants until police took over.

That incident, and the police report, indicate the club was allowing under-18 youths into the club after the 11 p.m. curfew. Holmes said curfew law only applies to ages 16 and younger, which is not true. Police said curfew applies through age 17.

Holmes said "we’re going to iron (problems) out." He said they are hiring off-duty police to help with outside security.

"In any group of people, you can get two or three idiots that try to ruin it for everybody," Holmes said. "But then you get rid of them."

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