Late-night clubbing: councillor wants to bring a little Berlin to Victoria

Victoria Coun. Matt Dell is dusting off a little-used bylaw in the hope it will help spur more late-night nightlife in the city and get people dancing—booze-free—in the wee hours of the morning.

“A lot of music lovers don't shut down at 2am,” Dell tells Capital Daily. “They want to party late into the night, or they want to dance late to the night or socialize late into the night.”

Dell says “it would be really cool” if Victoria could develop a small late-night dance sector, because, “there's always people out there who are into that type of thing, whether that be someone who just wants to party all-night long, or maybe a shift worker who doesn't get off shift until 10 at night, and they want to go out and stay out for a little longer.”

Dell says reviving the largely forgotten bylaw could help boost late-night arts and culture in the city, which would go a long way in expanding Victoria’s entertainment reach.

“Berlin is the classic city where there's a huge late-night industry that's world-famous, where dance halls happen all night long,” Dell says.

The bylaw in play has been on the books since 2001, permitting dance clubs to remain open—with no alcohol served—from 2am to 6am in the city’s M-3 Zone, which refers to the city’s Heavy Industrial District.

It was unclear the specifics of that area—the City of Victoria was unable to confirm in time of publication which streets that included—but the industrial area usually refers to Wharf, into the Brewery District and over to Rock Bay.

“It seems many people forgot about [the bylaw], so I’m reinvestigating and looking for new ways to grow this segment of the arts and culture sector,” Dell says.

It was wanted, it just never came

The genesis of the bylaw was a motion to allow late-night events to be held to satisfy an apparent demand. But according to Jason Guille, owner of Sunset Labs, a production studio for virtual and hybrid events, the demand was there but the bylaw didn’t lead to many after-hours dance parties.

“There were a number of other failed attempts,” Guille tells Capital Daily. “Most of those projects were simply too ambitious,” he says. “One had a giant skate park in it. It was like it was a lot for the city to figure out.”

Sunset Labs, then called the Sunset Room and located in the basement of Value Village on Store—where it remains today—came onto the scene in 2006, and the then-multi-purpose venue held a series of successful late-night events.

In 2023, Sunset rebranded its name and shifted its focus to live streaming and broadcast, so it’s not in the late-night dance business anymore. But that hasn’t lessened Guille's agreement with well-into-the-morning fun.

“I'm excited to support the existence of a new late-night space in Victoria,” Guille tells Capital Daily.

“I absolutely think we need it.”

“So, my understanding [is] we currently don't have anything [like this] in Victoria, so I think there's definitely a need for something late-night wherever, maybe in an industrial area or even downtown,” Dell the councillor says.

We're not reinventing the wheel, here

“There’s a huge market for it,” Mark Dos Santos tells Capital Daily—and he should know. Dos Santos is co-founder of Mind Garden, a Victoria events company that also rents out concert equipment and lighting. Last fall, Mind Garden hosted a handful of well-received late-night music parties in Rock Bay.

The company put on the brakes when the city’s bylaw inspectors found some code issues with its venue, but the popular events were held safely, with no issues or major concerns from police, Dos Santos says.

Dos Santos says you don’t have to point as far as Berlin to see a vibrant early-morning scene. He cites Vancouver and Montreal, which “have more flexibility on their hours.”

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“They're open till 6am for people to dance and enjoy themselves in a safe way, even without alcohol being served,” he tells Capital Daily.

What about the noise?

As for whether residents and business owners would object to revellers on the streets at those early hours, Dell says in addition to the rules and noise bylaws already in place, one of the benefits of late-night venues is they tend to help keep the streets quieter.

“So rather than when a club closes down at 2am and you have 600 people pour out onto the street and they just kind of mill about, the late-night venues are actually intended to give them something to do,” he says.

Dos Santos agrees: “That is actually safer for people in a late-night environment—giving people somewhere to go, rather than everyone getting kicked out at 2am onto the street trying to figure out cabs and figure out limited food options.”

Dell plans to wait to hear back from city staff about how the bylaw works, what the zoning is, and what—if any—updates would be needed.

He also wants to meet with venue owners to gauge their opinions and interest before introducing a discussion on the idea to the council in the coming months.

He says it could play a part in helping to diversify the city’s economy by stimulating business for Uber and cab drivers and potentially, for restaurants to open for the danced-out crowds.

Dell has been examining ways to diversify and augment Victoria’s nightclub scene and has been working with club owners and the city to try to preserve the local live music sector.

The city recently purchased the building that houses Hermann’s on View. Hermann’s Upstairs shut down last March, but a new club called The Coda has sprung up in its place.