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Blogs / Lounge Act / July 2009 / Private clubs are (mostly) history

Private clubs are (mostly) history

Remember that feeling you had the first time your parents gave you the car keys after you got your driver's license?

Even if you were 16 and just planning on driving around the block, or to visit a friend around the corner, the message in that simple act was clear:

"Welcome to adulthood."

That's kind of how I'm feeling today, the day the State of Utah finally gets rid of its ridiculous law requiring a membership to a private club in order to enjoy a cocktail.

For those of us imbibers who have negotiated Utah's mind-boggling liquor laws for the better part of our adult lives, this day was a long time coming. I was talking to an old college roomie the other day who now lives out of state, and he refused to believe that it was happening.

Of course, the dismissal of Utah's private-club law wasn't done for us Utahns. It was done to help tourists feel at home by removing some of the confusion surrounding private clubs. It was a business decision.

That's fine by me. Whatever works.

I never really understood the big deal for out-of-towners, anyway. If the State of Utah had simply called the membership fees "cover charges," maybe there wouldn't have been as much squawking about our private clubs.

I never complain when a club in Vegas or California hits me up for a $20 cover to hang out for one night. What was the big deal for Utah visitors to pony up $4 to hang out in one of our clubs for three whole weeks?

But I digress.

This a great day for those of us who spend more time on the town in darker hours than in the 9-to-5 grind. But there are aspects of the private clubs that I will miss.

I'll miss meeting new people when I sponsored them into a club, or when they sponsored me. I'll miss explaining to tourists that the private clubs don't require a test, hazing or membership in any particular religion, creed or nationality.

And I'll especially miss the never-ending arguments and philosophical discussions among locals as they try to figure out what the state was thinking when it instituted the private-club law in the first place.