Two Mundos

Romeo is Clubbing Fur Owner Delivers D.C.’s Most Luxurious Nightspot By William Wetmore

For Michael Romeo, owning swanky Washington, D.C., nightclub Fur can sometimes feel like running a daycare filled with drunken people. But despite the rigors and huge expense of operating one of the district’s most luxurious clubs, Romeo thrives on the thrill and challenge of satisfying the nighttime desires of D.C.’s diverse international scene. After all, he’s been in the party business since he was 14 and has notched success after success, evolving from cheesy dance parties in the suburbs, to his first mega club featuring top DJ talent to the glamour and glitz of Fur. The entire time, Romeo has tried to stay focused on the unique international melting pot that is the nation’s capital and has shunned the easy road of copying other cities with more established club scenes.
“Everybody wants to be New York and Miami. I hate that,” Romeo says.
With Fur, Romeo didn’t want to be a pretender – he wanted to give people something they’d never seen before. Fur is really several different clubs in one, featuring a thunderous dance space, a sultry cigar lounge, a nonsmoking room and a coffee bar serving espresso at all hours. Dare to pass through the door with a Tommy gun displayed overhead and you’ll come eye-to-eye with the real Scarface – Al Capone. This is the Mafia Room and the massive Capone portrait and other paintings were custom drawn on the club’s walls, creating an unmistakable, inimitable environment. The Mink Room above the main dance arena is a small super lounge with an intimate, sexy vibe. It’s one of the most popular spots in Fur and people feed off its energy. Cigars are available at any bar and you can order hor d’oeuvres with your drinks throughout the club.
“I want people to say, ‘This place is cool; they offer everything in there’” Romeo says.
	Romeo’s no novice at blowing away expectations. When he was a young teenager, Romeo was a projection manager at a movie theater and used to throw parties in the theater’s plaza after close, complete with kegs and strippers. Money flowed in but Romeo poured all profits into the next party at the theater or spent it on house parties. Romeo went pro in 1995 at age 20, scoring sound equipment at Radio Shack and filling a restaurant in the D.C. suburb of Rockville, Md. He hit the district in 1997, promoting parties at Z Club, Paper Moon restaurant in Georgetown and a private club in Dupont Circle. Techno, house and trance hadn’t yet exploded in D.C. so Romeo’s early parties had themes like MTV Dance Party and “The Pump.” Cheesy? Sure, admits Romeo, but people loved it.
Every party Romeo threw in the district was successful, including his international music parties, featuring sounds from Latin America, Greece, Turkey and the Middle East. The only problem was that he didn’t have his own space. Romeo packed various nightclubs but the story was always the same: he got screwed over. The clubs didn’t have enough liquor; were disorganized; had poor customer service and weak sound technology. “They thought it was easy making money. They thought they could screw me over and keep the crowds. What they didn’t realize is that I had a following wherever I went,” Romeo says. Romeo found his space in 1999 and opened D.C.’s first mega club, originally called Element and later known as Insomnia. The club was a hit but Romeo soon learned that promoting a party was one thing and owning a club was something else entirely. “It’s easy to promote. It’s a lot different when you own your own business,” Romeo says. He had to deal with an assortment of laws, a huge payroll, construction costs, lighting and hiring employees. Still, Insomnia was a major success. However, there was always one problem lurking: Romeo never had a long-term lease. Although he had a solid relationship with the building’s landlord, his lease was technically month-to-month so he could never do what he wanted to do with the space.

Enter a former fur coat storage warehouse called “Fur District” in Northeast D.C. and Romeo’s ambition hit the next level. Romeo bought the building, aptly named his new club Fur and set out to build the most sophisticated club experience the capital has ever seen. About $4.5 million later, Romeo’s vision became reality and Fur opened in October 2004. “Insomnia was warehouse. With Fur, it’s like going from Haircuttery to a full-service spa of a nightclub,” Romeo says. Romeo likes to keep the prices reasonable at Fur. Average cover on a typical night is $15 with no DJ and $20 to $25 with a DJ regardless of that DJ’s fame. A table reservation for 4-6 people has a $500 minimum but that entire amount goes to liquor or food for the table. On customer appreciation Fridays, Fur lowers the minimum for a table reservation to $300 for 4-6 people. Creating the splendor of Fur would be plenty for the wildest dreams of most 29-year-olds, but Romeo is not about to give up his 18-hour workdays. Not with plans to bring major rock shows to the club in addition to the top hip hop talent that has already performed at Fur. Not with plans to build an outdoor patio at the club in one year and in two years time to construct the largest roof deck on the East Coast. No, Romeo’s labor of love is far from complete. “This was love. I put too much money into here. But I did this for love because I wanted to do something that nobody had ever seen,” Romeo says. Fur is located at 31 Patterson St., NE in Washington, D.C.