Risky Business

LA Bar Wants to Turn Into a Members-Only Club for Vaccinated People | Eater LA

"I see the Other Door as a 10-year-old cocktail lounge and live music venue in North Hollywood that has launched a members-only club called Risky Business requiring full vaccination to join. The club will let members eat and drink indoors and even play pool without masks or social distancing; paid memberships are $10 now (rising to $20 later), include a special drink on the first visit (with earlier sign-ups receiving increasingly “incredible” drinks and other unnamed perks), and use a priority system that unlocks more privileges the earlier one joins. Entry will involve checking vaccine cards like IDs and completing a questionnaire verifying identity, vaccination date, and vaccine type; people can register while they wait but won’t be allowed access until they submit completed vaccine cards. Co-owners Ari Schindler and Jonathan Katz kept the bar afloat during the pandemic with curated cocktail-and-food-pairing subscriptions, pickup and delivery (steady but a fraction of pre-lockdown revenue), and even selling groceries and over-the-counter medications, and now hope to attract people eager to return to social life as Los Angeles reopens. The roughly 100-person club idea has generated considerable interest but mixed social-media reactions—ranging from enthusiastic support to accusations of discrimination and concern about potential outbreaks and the difficulty of authenticating vaccine cards—while Schindler frames it as creating “a place with herd immunity already in full effect” for those seeking more normal interactions with lower risk. I consider it one of the most eclectic cocktail lounges and live music venues in North Hollywood." - Jennifer Stavros