Downtown dog club closing doors, citing safety concerns

After nine years, the Hydrant Club in downtown Las Vegas is closing its brick-and-mortar location but not because business has slowed.

“This is about a neighborhood that is no longer compatible for a stand-alone small business,” Hydrant Club owner Cathy Brooks said.

She said the area around her membership-only dog training and boarding business, near the corner of East Fremont and 9th streets, no longer feels safe. Brooks plans to close the business Dec. 31.

“The business isn’t closing because the business is in trouble, and that’s the part that’s so sad,” she said. “The Hydrant Club is not dead. The Hydrant Club is still very much alive. It’s just that the location at 9th Street and Fremont Street will cease operation on Dec. 31.”

She doesn’t have any immediate plans to open another location.

Brooks moved from San Francisco to Las Vegas to open the Hydrant Club in December 2013, after being persuaded by the late Tony Hsieh to be a part of DTP Companies, then known as the Downtown Project. DTP Companies was started in 2012 with a mission to be a walkable community “with everything you need to live, work, and play,” according to its website.

Brooks said while the Fremont East area has undergone massive redevelopment it isn’t friendly toward every business.

“Fremont East is Bourbon Street in New Orleans, and there’s nothing wrong with Bourbon Street,” she said. “Do I want to live there and run a high-end business in that neighborhood? Probably not.”

Brooks said she considered closing the Hydrant Club since March, and noticed a shift in the Fremont East area since it opened up after the pandemic.

Recent examples, Brooks said, are gunshots being fired in the alley behind the business, vandalism, littering and pedestrians being aggressive toward the dogs when they’re outside in the property’s gated yard, which faces Fremont Street.

Data from the Metropolitan Police Department shows the total number of crimes this year in the downtown area command, which covers the Hydrant Club, increased by 7.2 percent year-over-year and property crimes increased by 15.8 percent.

Brooks isn’t critical of the city of Las Vegas or Metro for the issues she has faced, saying they are as responsive as they can be. But she believes there aren’t enough resources to address public safety issues.

“If you have 10 people, they can only do 10 things at a time and when you have 100 things to do, you can’t just physically do them all at the same time,” she said.

Councilwoman Olivia Diaz, whose ward covers Fremont East, said the city has worked for years to improve the area, and new resources are being added to help with public safety.

Diaz said in an emailed statement: “Public safety remains the city’s top priority and our Deputy City Marshals are working closely with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department to ensure that our city is safe for everyone. In fact, in 2023 we will be opening a new police substation on Fremont Street. In addition, the city’s Courtyard Homeless Resource Center is open to any who may be experiencing homelessness, and serves as a hub to help our most vulnerable residents to become hired, housed and healthy. The city has also deployed a Conditions Team, a group of Marshals that work with businesses on public safety issues. This team has worked with the Hydrant Club. While it is always sad to see a business move on, there are many successful businesses and new opportunities coming to Fremont East and downtown. We wish Cathy and the Hydrant Club all the best.”

But Brooks doesn’t believe people should give up on the neighborhood, and said it should be “looked at for what it is” and the right kind of business would be those that are either empty during overnight hours or those with on-site security.

“If there’s a message that’s really important for me to land, it’s that the closing of this location of the Hydrant Club is not a statement about the viability of this neighborhood,” she said.

Contact Sean Hemmersmeier at shemmersmeier@reviewjournal.com. Follow @seanhemmers34 on Twitter.