It’s 9 p.m. on a Sunday night. Black lights and loud music fill a crowded Los Angeles bar in the middle of Downtown.
As the disco light spins and the DJ fades into the next song, Xavier Williams counts down, “Three, two, one!” On a small 12-by-12 foot stage just a foot off the ground, Williams grabs his hips and forcefully gyrates them from side to side.
With his twin brother to his right and his close friend to his left, the three men drop to the floor in a model-like pose.
“Thankfully to SPiN Standard, we have a home here at the Banjee Ball,” says Jarome Hollingsworth, the man to Williams’ left.
Hollingsworth, Williams, and Williams’ twin brother, Christopher, make up the B.A.D. Dance Crew. B.A.D. stands for Beautiful Artistic Dancers. The crew comes to dance at the Banjee Ball for a night of vogue dancing when it is hosted every month at SPiN, a table tennis club at The Standard, a hotel in Downtown L.A.
“I think Banjee Ball culturally brings everyone together no matter where you come from. And we need that,” Hollingsworth says. Based out of Los Angeles and Orange County, the three young men all in their early 20s have been dancing as a group for four years. They were one of the first performers to perform at the Banjee Ball when it started a couple of years ago.
“It inspires everyone to get up and dance and express themselves. No matter what you’re feeling or what you are. That’s what it’s about—feeling yourself,” Christopher says. Through their dancing, they hope they can help people of all cultures and backgrounds to understand each other. And the group sees The Standard as a hot spot for a melting pot of people—the perfect place to carry out their mission.
“The Standard is an awesome place to come because it has everything you need. Tennis, drinks, music, club, games, a hotel,” Xavier says as he stands next to a retro 80’s arcade machine. Because along the peripheral of the dance floor, SPiN is also hosting an arcade night. On this particular Sunday, SPiN has brought in 20 vintage arcade games as a special event.
“You have to think outside the box,” says Travis Gochnour, the general manager at SPiN. Gochnour has worked at SPiN since it opened at The Standard three years ago when the events center was converted into a bar and pingpong arena.
The Standard is renowned for its rooftop pool and bar that overlooks the city. It also features a beer garden with an outdoor ping pong table.
Although SPiN is clearly labeled as a table tennis club, Gochnour sees much more potential in it than that. “We’re always trying to expose ourselves to different types of people,” he says. “You can’t rely on only the people who are obsessed with pingpong.” Gochnour’s goal is for The Standard to never be a stale experience. “Other bars I’ve worked at, you kind of have a recipe of what you expect every day and it kind of gets repetitive,” he says. “Every time a guest comes here, it should be a completely different experience, which shocks them.”
And while The Standard is a hotel, ironically, Gochnour says most of their business relies on locals and visitors coming in for the attractions, activities and events rather than travelers looking for a place to stay. “I think we rely mainly on people coming to the hotel as its own entity in what we have to offer,” he says.
Gochnour says he hopes to attract cool hip people who are pushing bounds and keeping the city exciting. “It makes the neighborhood better,” he says. “It cleans it up.”
But as much as SPiN is more than just pingpong, table tennis is still a core value. “There’s something that’s always consistently changing, but pingpong is always the same,” says Emily Gerhardson, a veteran employee who was hired at the start of SPiN. “That’s what brings people together.”
Gerhardson says pingpong removes the uneasiness from bar and club settings. “It’s great for a date night,” she says. “It’s a good way to break the ice because they can feel a little silly and make mistakes, but it’s okay and they get to kind of see the fun side of each other.”
Gerhardson says the goal at The Standard is to create a culture of freedom. “The culture in Los Angeles is ever changing,” she says. “But I think in this particular culture—The Standard culture—we let everyone be as free as they want to be. As long as they’re expressing themselves and feeling comfortable, that’s what we’re happy with.”