Jump to content

      



























Photo

Paparazzi Nightclub | 642 Johnson St. | Victoria


  • Please log in to reply
27 replies to this topic

#1 bluefox

bluefox

    ex-Victorian

  • Member
  • 697 posts

Posted 30 December 2012 - 09:47 PM

Surprised this club doesn't have its own thread yet, considering its longer-than-average history in the city (as it was formerly Prism, and before that, BJ's). But it's apparently a good time to start considering all the spicy drama going down on the club's Facebook page...

Recently, a "Boycott Paparazzi" group was started on Facebook in response to a growing number of complaints from current and former patrons who disagree with the way the owners run the bar and some of the changes that have come to Paparazzi. Unfortunately, that group is now secret or has been deleted, so I can't pull up their group description, however, the owners themselves, for better or worse, have gone public in calling people out for "attacking" them and posted a screenshot of the group, which created quite a stir both on the club's page and the owners' personal pages.

There have been quite a few controversial moments in the last few months involving the owners, Attila Bassett, Helina Kinnersley and Terry Bex, and various patrons, and this latest episode seems to have convinced them to sell the bar and just wash their hands of the whole thing.

Attila Bassett
December 26th at 9:06 PM near Esquimalt, British Columbia

I'm sick and tired of what certain people have done to me and my family ,"Paparazzi is FOR SALE" you all can have what it use to be back , I'm done with your crap, shame on you , as for the latest I will hand it over to a lawyer , this will be dealt with , shame on you for ruining my Christmas !!!

https://www.facebook...200248719846560

There aren't many people prepared to take the step to run a nightclub, let alone a gay one, especially in Victoria.

If Attila is really thinking of selling, the closure of Paparazzi has pretty big implications for Victoria's LGBT community. It would mean the loss of Victoria's only gay nightclub (not counting the Ledge and Castle Video Bar, as they aren't nightclubs), and, worse yet, it has functioned as an important gathering place for LGBT people, especially youth, who seek refuge and a safe space. So I'd say there's more at stake than the loss of "just another club".

Thoughts?
(Not the owner of, nor am I associated with, the Blue Fox Café, in any way.)

#2 sebberry

sebberry

    Resident Housekeeper

  • Moderator
  • 21,503 posts
  • LocationVictoria

Posted 30 December 2012 - 10:01 PM

I don't know anything about what's going on there but I thought Victoria was a more accepting city?

Victoria current weather by neighbourhood: Victoria school-based weather station network

Victoria webcams: Big Wave Dave Webcams

 


#3 gumgum

gumgum
  • Member
  • 7,069 posts

Posted 30 December 2012 - 10:05 PM

Wow that facebook feed is full of attention whores.

#4 sdwright.vic

sdwright.vic

    Colwood

  • Member
  • 6,681 posts

Posted 31 December 2012 - 06:23 AM

This seems more bringing personel drama to vibrant victoria than discussion. It would of asked your question without including all the subjective text from facebook, you might habe a topic. But bringing the drasma of thatbthread here make this sem more like someonentrying to get more airplay for all the negativity and drama. Rephase your question without the need to identify and spread the drama. I am sure all the people that are friends of Attilla are going to be thrilled with you dragging their names and this to another board. You could of asked your question without the link.
Predictive text and a tiny keyboard are not my friends!

#5 gumgum

gumgum
  • Member
  • 7,069 posts

Posted 31 December 2012 - 08:03 AM

^Well they did smear it all over Facebook like a bunch of clowns. They might as well have put up a billboard.

#6 sdwright.vic

sdwright.vic

    Colwood

  • Member
  • 6,681 posts

Posted 31 December 2012 - 08:27 AM

Δ It wasn't smeared all over Facebook. This was taken from a personal pofile. Not Even the bars group. So the perspon who linked to the conversation is most ikely on Attila's friend list, and s just bringing the drama from this situation to Vibrant Victoria. Sorry but bluefox's question has just as much validity without linking to someones personal page. Just with all that is going on in this situation I question the advertising of the boycott group, the tone of the question (bluefox seems to promote the complaint said as trueth, not just someone slandering a business), and need to include personal opinion... which isn't supposed to occur to a business on this website without proof to back up the claims. (Think League here)

From my understanding this is some bitter drag queen starting the group who didn't win a contest... that justifies airing dirty laundry on this group?

Ask the question and leave the subjective text from someones personal facebook account out of it. IMHOB this just screams of someone needing to bring more drama to a continious situation that already exist elsewhere. If there is some isue with people discussing a situation on a personal facebook account leave it there, or maybe link to this boycott group as well so what occured can be knoiwn as well that started all this. Oh wait, you can't... the boycott group can not be found on facebook.
Predictive text and a tiny keyboard are not my friends!

#7 sdwright.vic

sdwright.vic

    Colwood

  • Member
  • 6,681 posts

Posted 31 December 2012 - 08:35 AM

Oh... AND the bar is not for sale either.... so mute question.
Predictive text and a tiny keyboard are not my friends!

#8 gumgum

gumgum
  • Member
  • 7,069 posts

Posted 31 December 2012 - 08:43 AM

^But if you post a gripe on Facebook (especially a gripe that perhaps should be kept in the confines of a courtroom) you have to assume anyone can read it. Especially seeing as the account holder hasn't got their privacy settings set.

I mean come on. It's obvious these people wanted to share it with the world. Otherwise they would have used email or something we used to call a te-le-phone.

I am guessing they don't realize how far reaching these grievances will reach, but that's just too bad. Think before you type. Anyone with a computer should abide by these rules.

Aside from that from that some people thrive on drama.
I have no sympathy for the fact that this has been posted on here. Mostly because I think they like it.

#9 VicHockeyFan

VicHockeyFan
  • Suspended User
  • 52,121 posts

Posted 31 December 2012 - 08:50 AM

If Attila is really thinking of selling, the closure of Paparazzi has pretty big implications for Victoria's LGBT community. It would mean the loss of Victoria's only gay nightclub (not counting the Ledge and Castle Video Bar, as they aren't nightclubs), and, worse yet, it has functioned as an important gathering place for LGBT people, especially youth, who seek refuge and a safe space. So I'd say there's more at stake than the loss of "just another club".

Thoughts?


Youth? You have to be 19 to go there.

Anyway, I saw a bit of the fallout, it seemed to me everyone was wanting the drama/attention, I even asked on the page/group why they would splash this all over the place. Anyway, I can't really remember the answer.

I always enjoy the place when I go, and I'm not gay, and maybe I don't get into the drama as I don't know the place enough to know all the characters.
<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

#10 sdwright.vic

sdwright.vic

    Colwood

  • Member
  • 6,681 posts

Posted 31 December 2012 - 10:27 AM

Youth? You have to be 19 to go there.

Anyway, I saw a bit of the fallout, it seemed to me everyone was wanting the drama/attention, I even asked on the page/group why they would splash this all over the place. Anyway, I can't really remember the answer.

I always enjoy the place when I go, and I'm not gay, and maybe I don't get into the drama as I don't know the place enough to know all the characters.


My point exactly. Youth do not need a safe place to go to seek a safe place in this town. I have a group of people who meet at a different watering hole in town every Sunday. There can be up to 8 of us, and one is transgender, people in this town don't give a rats a@@ about this, and I can tell you from direct example. This is why Attilla has worked hard to make the place open to everyone.

The drama that is going on is the same drama that has surrounded this place since before it was Paparazzi, going back all the way to Prism and BJ's. CERTAIN people in this town have nothing better to do the b@tch and belittle a business owner thinking they can do better. If they can do better then do so. Or as the little "hidden" Boycott group suggest... move on to Hush then. Its not gonna stop any of this from going on.

As for "people liking the drama" well, its just like drama for others to take it upon themselves to decide what and how anyone is thinking or doing.
Predictive text and a tiny keyboard are not my friends!

#11 sdwright.vic

sdwright.vic

    Colwood

  • Member
  • 6,681 posts

Posted 31 December 2012 - 10:33 AM

Hope this works... not that hard to find the group that started all this.



Linking is not working so....

http://www.flickr.co...tream/lightbox/
Predictive text and a tiny keyboard are not my friends!

#12 VicHockeyFan

VicHockeyFan
  • Suspended User
  • 52,121 posts

Posted 31 December 2012 - 11:01 AM

This is why Attilla has worked hard to make the place open to everyone.

The drama that is going on is the same drama that has surrounded this place since before it was Paparazzi, going back all the way to Prism and BJ's.


I agree he has done a good job of this. I appreciate that the place is open in the afternoons, it's the cheapest drink price in town (some days as low as $3/drink). And the 6 or 8 regulars that you'll likely meet at the bar at 4:30pm are as good a group as you'll find when you sit up any any bar in town.
<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

#13 sdwright.vic

sdwright.vic

    Colwood

  • Member
  • 6,681 posts

Posted 31 December 2012 - 11:04 AM

cheapest drink price in town (some days as low as $3/drink).


Who could afford to drink elsewhere and still have the right to moan and groan.... :teacher:
Predictive text and a tiny keyboard are not my friends!

#14 gumgum

gumgum
  • Member
  • 7,069 posts

Posted 31 December 2012 - 01:51 PM

This was also posted on his public feed by his friend, which I think is fitting:

Atilla you know I support you and your sister. But any good lawyer will say keep this **** off Facebook. Not to mention it just makes you look immature. You're not 15, quit posting this crap on Facebook and deal with it like a man.



#15 sdwright.vic

sdwright.vic

    Colwood

  • Member
  • 6,681 posts

Posted 31 December 2012 - 02:13 PM

This was also posted on his public feed by his friend, which I think is fitting:


You are missing the fact that all this was not required for the question to be asked... and if you go to the picture I posted, any business owner has the right to lash out at an attack by someone who so stupidly attacks a business for invalid reasons. The point is, the question was asked about the place the business has in the community, not what the owner does on their own personal Facebook. Linking what the owner did and not what the Boycott page did was totally one sided and slanted towards continuing and creating even more drama. It was very easy for me to get the screen shot of what the boycott page had done to illicit the response and conversation on a personal profile, so both sides should of been shown to not one.

Its just as easy for that now hidden, taken down, what ever web site to now have all their drama moved to somewhere that may not require such a "actual" identity as on Facebook. Just saying that bluefox's new thread seems a little biased in its preamble, and that only half of a story side is being told in what he says BEFORE he even ask a question.
Predictive text and a tiny keyboard are not my friends!

#16 zinkerled

zinkerled
  • Member
  • 138 posts

Posted 31 December 2012 - 06:44 PM

I've always thought Paparazzi is a lame name for a gay bar. They need a cool name like The Pump Jack to really draw a crowd.

#17 bluefox

bluefox

    ex-Victorian

  • Member
  • 697 posts

Posted 31 December 2012 - 07:12 PM

Just saying that bluefox's new thread seems a little biased in its preamble, and that only half of a story side is being told in what he says BEFORE he even ask a question.


I am neither a fan of the way the owners have handled this issue, or of the way people have taken their complaints to Facebook rather than take advantage of the free market to open a rival nightclub that can do things better than they claim the Paparazzi ownership has.

I didn't create this thread with the sole purpose of discussing this eruption or helping extend that drama onto VV, as you said. The reason this thread exists is that I noticed on Facebook that Attila was thinking of selling the bar, so I came here to post in what I assumed would be a pre-existing thread on Paparazzi, only, to my surprise, there was no thread on this club yet.

So you have it in reverse sdwright, and again, to clarify, either way I think it's just a shame that gay people in Victoria would lose a place to go where they can comfortably express themselves regardless of what or who they are. As has been mentioned above, that is what Attila has been trying to do, rather than it just be a typical "gay club". But I'm not a fan of the way either side handles their business so publicly and shamelessly.

As for "youth", I still meant 19-24, I realize underage people can't go in there :P ... there are plenty of people in that age range that still have not come out or aren't comfortable in their own skin (or feel safe identifying as LGBT). I strongly agree that Victoria is an accepting city, but among the LGBT community themselves there seems to be a lot of needless dramatics -- most of it created specifically for the purpose of having something to do.
(Not the owner of, nor am I associated with, the Blue Fox Café, in any way.)

#18 Nanaimoite

Nanaimoite
  • Member
  • 158 posts

Posted 18 March 2013 - 03:45 PM

are there still issues going on at paparazzi's??

#19 Fairbanks

Fairbanks
  • Member
  • 553 posts

Posted 18 March 2013 - 05:22 PM

Who could afford to drink elsewhere and still have the right to moan and groan.... :teacher:


Yeah 'cause that's the most important reason people have for going to a club....

#20 Victoria Watcher

Victoria Watcher

    Old White Man On A Canadian Island

  • Member
  • 52,290 posts

Posted 23 November 2023 - 06:04 AM

'If people don’t feel safe here, where do they go?': Victoria's disappearing LGBT nightclubs

 

 

 

 

For the first time in years, Victoria no longer has a nightclub that explicitly markets itself for the LGBTQ+ community.

 

While some might see it as a sign of growing progress and inclusivity, others say there is still a need for safe spaces for the queer community to dance the night away.

 

In a recent incident that hit social media, Bucky Yaqub, a visitor from Surrey, went to what he thought was a gay nightclub on Broad Street one weekend last month.

 

https://www.timescol...htclubs-7862975

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bah, Paparazzi has always said they are a gay club but welcome everyone.  For 30+ years.  If some "non-gay university students" are very prevalent there, it's likely just because there are so few alternatives now, almost all nightclubs are gone.

 

As is often the case, the extreme gays are soooo dramatic.


Edited by Victoria Watcher, 23 November 2023 - 06:05 AM.


You're not quite at the end of this discussion topic!

Use the page links at the lower-left to go to the next page to read additional posts.
 



0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users