Downtown LA Night Club

A brand spanking new gay bar called Precinct has opened at 4th and Broadway just a few doors down from Grand Central Market. After being delayed for almost an entire year by city bureaucracy bullshit (they were initially planning to open in summer of 2014), Precinct finally-finally opened last week on May 30th to amazing reception from DTLA’s burgeoning LGBT community. According to Thor Stephens — who co-owns Precinct with Brian McIntire, both from bar/nightlife backgrounds — a line wrapped around the entire block waiting to get in on opening day. That’s what I call pent-up demand.

Precinct already has a lived-in feel about it that makes you think the bar has been here for ages. The spacious 10, 000 square foot bar and nightclub takes over the entire second floor of 357 S Broadway — a nondescript century-old two-story brick building built in 1902. A very inconspicuous doorway with no sign (yet) — the kind you might see as a backdoor in an alleyway — faces Broadway and funnels bar patrons in and up a flight of stairs to the second floor. Along with a sprawling bar and dance floor, the real defining and welcoming feature that makes Precinct an instant hit is the semi-outdoor patio with its exposed brick walls wrapping around the exterior of the building facing both Broadway and 4th Street.

Precinct DTLA could also be viewed as the perfect segue for the building as the gay bar replaces what used to be the California Department of Corrections office, turning something so bad into something so fabulous.