WashBlade.com – Lou Chibbaro Jr
Neighbors say adult video store draws drug dealers, prostitutes
The gay head of the Mount Vernon Square Neighborhood Association led about 45 residents in a demonstration Monday night in front of an adult video store that the protesters called a ?magnet? for prostitutes, drug dealers and violent criminals.
Association president Carry Silverman called on city regulatory agencies to shut down Fun Fair Video, located at 919 5th St., N.W., saying it has been operating as a sexually oriented business without a proper license and occupancy permit since 1997.
?This Fun Fair Video is not fun for us and it?s not fun for the neighborhood,? Silverman told the gathering through a bullhorn. ?And the fun will soon be over because we?re going to have it closed for good.?
The area near 5th and K Streets, N.W., near where the store is located, has long been known as a gathering place for female transgender prostitutes and the male customers who use their services. A section of 5th Street beginning where Fun Fair Video is located and extending about five blocks south, near the D.C. Superior Court building on Indiana Avenue, has also long been known as a cruising area for male prostitutes who seek out men on the ?down low,? activists have said.