It hasn’t been entirely roses for the new hot spot, with some patrons raising questions about the building’s safety: A few weekends back, there was an incident with a falling light fixture; luckily, it missed clubgoers. Other Ringside visitors have raised concerns about the space’s lack of a sprinkler system. And the club was recently cited for a membership violation (state law requires that bars make at least 60 percent of their profit on food or be membership-only clubs). Ringside has responded by voluntarily reducing its capacity to 200 people. They also held a membership drive. (It’s $5 per year.)
Penny responded in an open letter (posted online) where he defended the club’s safety and stressed its fire inspection record. He also pointed out the difficulties of modernizing a historic building. “Do you think that New Orleans, with all the wonderful old buildings and all the wonderful clubs … could be duplicated in any way, shape or form if you were to apply new construction, fire and building codes to it? … You’d have to tear down the French Quarter.”