After many false starts, the Clermont Lounge appears to be really, and truly, reopening Friday night.
"And finally, we can officially announce that the Clermont Lounge will open tonight at 8 p.m.," the famous Ponce de Leon Avenue basement strip club announced on Facebook a few hours before the scheduled opening.
The post continued: "We'd like to give a special thanks to (Atlanta City Councilman) Kwanza Hall for all of his hard work in helping to reopen the Clermont Lounge! #everbodysmayor"
Co-owner Kathi Martin said Hall was a "big help" with getting them to the right inspectors and getting them re-inspected. The wildly popular establishment closed at the start of the year to accommodate the redevelopment of the historic Clermont Motor Hotel into an upscale boutique hotel.
Nearly a year ago, in October, Hall attended the groundbreaking for the Hotel Clermont. He said he'd been worried the building would be torn down, before BNA Associates developer Philip Welker and business partner Ethan Orley rescued it from that fate.
“This place like no other has been an icon that everyone has been wanting to see good things happen at,” the mayoral candidate said at the event.
The reopening for the bar has been delayed multiple times, but it looks as if tonight will really be the night.
More than any patron, the dancers are likely most excited for the doors to finally open. To find other means of income during the prolonged closure, they washed cars at a Cobb County bar, performed at Star Bar and raised $9,000 through a GoFundMe campaign.
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