Nights lack life at Waterside now

It's Saturday night. You tend to patronize the region's trendiest nightspots. You get a call from friends asking what you're doing tonight. And you reply, "I'm going to Waterside."

This is probably what you'll hear:

"What? Why?"

"Shut up. No, seriously, what are you doing?"

"Ew."

And that would have been the response even before the closing this year of two nightclubs inside the storied pavilion overlooking the Elizabeth River in Norfolk.

Bar Norfolk and Have a Nice Day Cafe, the two clubs that Norfolk deemed such seedy dens of iniquity that they needed to be closed forever, were enormously popular, but only within a certain demographic. College kids, chiefly, as well as the tanned and buff party people for whom Jell-O is an appropriate substance to mix with alcohol or wrestle in. The clubs ultimately gave Waterside a bad reputation. Or so the city felt.

As Lane Brown, the general manager of the place, puts it: "There's a difference between a place where people go to have a drink, versus a place people go to get drunk."

But the closing of those clubs left Waterside, already considered a shell of its former self, positively skeletal.

Saturday night is prime time for businesses serving food and drink and music - except in Waterside, where there are now just four options, and where the empty corridors seem haunted by the ghosts of good times past. On a recent Saturday at 9 p.m., you could practically count on one hand the people in the place.

No one seems to know what to do with Waterside. Should it be a farmers market? A community center? A duty-free haven of commercial gluttony for cruise ship passengers? Or just torn down? The indecision shows.

The floors' bad brown tile patterns evoke early '80s design at its worst. Rigid plastic chair-table-thingies - the "sporks" of seating - are plopped throughout and give it the vibe of a hellish fast-food restaurant. The exodus of stores feels sharp and pronounced, which makes the few remaining establishments - a newsstand/bodega, takeout places, a clothing store - look sad.

But, the city is making plans. A physical renovation and an image overhaul are on the way. One entity taking a role is part of the city's cultural arm, Festevents. Best known for their events in Town Point Park, right next door, Festevents stepped in months ago to provide some family-friendly entertainment in line with the city's new vision for Waterside, a move that actually began before the padlocks were attached to the doors of Bar Norfolk and Have a Nice Day.

In September, Festevents sponsored its first monthly dance for teens, an event that, by all accounts, seemed pretty cool. A DJ spun the dance and hip-hop music the kids these days like, and there was even a live drummer accompanying the beats. Were it not for the lack of alcohol and facial hair in the room, this party could easily have been any chic spot that adults frequent. The word must have gotten out; that first night drew about 100 people. The last one, only their second, brought 500.

"Our overall goal," said Fest-events' director Karen Scherberger, "is to continue to bring visitors and residents into the facility for positive experiences." So far, she said, it's working.

On Saturday, Festevents played host to a group of swing dancers - about 15 or so people dancing to old-time music played through a speaker.

Coming up, there's a gospel music celebration, a fair-trade crafts festival, holiday caroling and more. (Groups wishing to use the space for appropriate events are encouraged to submit proposals.)

The swingers shimmied and sashayed and twirled on a white surface near large windows overlooking the water. They were having a good time, but their small ranks inside the vast, blank space made them look like people partying on a canoe as a cruise ship sailed by.

Emily VanDerhoft, 20, and Justin Vazquez, 21, were leaving after the swing dancing was over. "If this was going on, I'd come back," VanDerhoft said, which meant she wouldn't otherwise.

Her friend was less PC. "There's a huge difference," Vazquez said, in Waterside. "It's really gone downhill."

The only respectable places to hang out, drink and eat - assuming, of course, that you find chain restaurants respectable - are Hooter's, Outback Steakhouse and Joe's Crab Shack, the latter of which was packed on Saturday. Rows of enthusiastic people were eating at the picnic-styled tables; it turns out the group was from Ocean Lakes High School and celebrating their participation in a cheerleading championship held in Portsmouth. (Were it not for them, the airplane pilot staying at the Marriott next door having a nightcap would have been one of very few customers.)

A woman from the group took to the restaurant's megaphone to congratulate her crew; it turns out she chose this place for its location and fond memories.

"I met my husband at Have a Nice Day," said Andrea Cassevah, a 29-year-old Beach resident. She hadn't been there in ages, she said. Waterside "used to be this really fun place. It's gone down. It's kind of sad."

The one place seemingly immune from the despair seems to be Jillian's, which combines a video game arcade, a sports bar and sit-down restaurant with what is now the only nightclub left in the building. Club Mojo's, that space is called, and it has remained a consistent draw for a largely young black crowd for many years. Mojo's gets full at around 10 p.m. or so, and for $20, patrons - who are first patted down and greeted by some no-nonsense staff wearing headsets - can be let inside the sprawling space. Music by the likes of Lil Wayne and Beyoncé get the people dancing; they are, again, mostly college age.

They're mostly orderly and without a lot of drama, said two security guards watching a long line of people snake into the place

"I feel good now," said Maury Powell, a security agent perched on one of the seating spork thingies and looking up at the kids going inside. He looks to be in his mid- to late 50s, his partner is perhaps a decade older. Old-timers.

Watching Bar Norfolk and Have a Nice Day, he said, was like watching a tragedy waiting to happen. Both places had been accused of over-serving patrons. There are stories of serious fights and of women stumbling, or being carried out, who'd have been in no position to defend themselves in a worst-case scenario. "Someone was going to get hurt," he said.

Now, the contrast is severe.

"I can sleep at night," he said. Though the traffic is about 60 percent less than it used to be, both guards agree: They're tired of scuffling with drunks. That must have been bad, but this is tragic. Maybe this is one of those things that has to hit rock bottom before it can be good again. Powell seems to think so.

"Waterside," he said, "is in the process of turning around."

Malcolm Venable, (757) 446-2662, malcolm.venable@pilotonline.com