WET Must Wait

The grand reopening of WET on June 26 turned into a wash after owner Mike Hamod had to shut the party down little more than 24 hours before the fete for the club’s remodeling was to begin. According to Hamod, fixtures being sent from Florida and Chicago did not arrive until Friday afternoon and were unable to get proper city inspection.

Thanks to the miracle of social networking, the 3,000-plus people expected to swarm the corner of South First Street and East San Salvador were alerted that the party was off before a bottle-service-starved riot broke out.

Michael Hannon, a code enforcement officer with the city, said an anonymous tipster alerted them to unpermitted work taking place back in April, and though an inspector dispatched at the time saw nothing wrong, ultimately WET would have had to open on the 26th with several key sections of the three-level club cordoned off, until they could be properly inspected.

“The last thing we want to have happen is something collapses. It’s really for the safety of the patrons,” Hannon says of the latest in a long series of roadblocks the city has thrown in front of WET.

Despite the setback, there was a hint of a cancellation-high in Hamod’s voice as he explained the decision to wait. “We were pretty burnt out trying to finish up the whole remodel pretty much in three months,” he says.

The Fly is the valley’s longest running political column, written by Metro Silicon Valley staff, to provide a behind-the-scenes look at local politics. Fly accepts anonymous tips.

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