Beds in nightclubs are so 1999.

I remember going to Amsterdam when they had beds on the stage. Oh man, the sordid stuff that went on there.

After swings of change, club gets liquor license

"Sexy does not mean sex."

'First, the Denver nightclub owners fought their neighbors. Then they fought the city. Finally, they fought the city once again.

With each battle, the owners of the Sugar House lounge pulled out tough, unexpected victories on their way to opening a nightclub that will cater to swingers, or "open-minded couples," one night a week.

Wednesday morning, they achieved what is likely their final victory: They were given a liquor license after months of wrangling with city officials.

The owners now are moving quickly to try to open as early as next week, almost 12 weeks after they had originally hoped to.

"It's all good to go," owner Scottie Ewing said just hours after picking up the license from
Open-Minded?

Ewing and his business partner, Lynne Thomas, have fought so many battles since June 2006, when they bought the building at 1395 W. Alameda Ave., that they've come up with a new tag line for Sugar House: "The most controversial nightclub in Denver."

The delays, he said, have cost the club almost $150,000 in revenue.

Ewing said recently that he thinks the reason he had to battle so hard for the nightclub was because some folks have moral objections to the swinger lifestyle.

"It's kind of silly," he said. "They're afraid of what they don't know about."

But neighbors and city officials who found themselves dealing with Sugar House said that isn't the case.

"My own personal opinion is that I don't care how people get their jollies," said Karen Cuthbertson, president of the Athmar Park Neighborhood Association, which opposed Sugar House's application for a liquor license last summer.

Cuthbertson said more neighbors were concerned with noise, parking and traffic - the common complaints about nightclubs.

The director of Denver's licensing department, who had the final decision on whether to dispense the liquor license, also said she did not consider the clientele.

"I haven't put my attention toward that," said director Awilda Marquez.

She said last week that she was not giving Sugar House the license because certain walls inside the club did not match the floor plans the club had originally submitted.

However, in an interview, Marquez could not point out specific statutes saying the walls must match the floor plans and said, in the end, that she consulted with other city and state officials and made "a judgment."

She also said the department was previously concerned that so much of the club's furniture was beds.

"It looks suspicious to me," she said.

Ewing denied, however, that the beds pointed to something more than just the dancing and socializing at the nightclub, saying they went with the "sexy" theme of the club.

"Sexy does not mean sex," he said. "Sex is an act, and there will be no sex acts here."

He also said beds in a club are not novel. He pointed out seven other clubs in Denver that use beds for furniture.

Late Wednesday, Ewing said he was relieved the battles were over for now.

"We made a good compromise," he said, "and everybody's happy."'