BOARDWALK
BOARDWALK
“Iron Horse ran out of gas, so we went to the Boardwalk and Ryan Seelbach for a new look”
Iron Horse had a firm spot on the 7th St. strip near the Capital One Arena in DC, but after 10 years, we ran out of gas. Our good friend Ryan Seelbach had established himself as one of DC’s rising nightlife stars and we asked him to take the reins. His concept, Boardwalk, now a successful venue at the Wharf in DC, seemed like a good fit, a look that would let customers know that we had moved in a new direction. This one was all Ryan while Curt Large and I stayed in the backseat and let him take the wheel.
The timing couldn’t have been worse for Boardwalk. Just as Ryan and his team were putting the finishing touches on Boardwalk, someone somewhere sneezed, and we were consumed by the global pandemic. Ouch.
We couldn’t survive the shutdown of all bars in DC, so Boardwalk was done before it really started. While we will never know whether Boardwalk in Penn Quarter would have become a hit, it looked great and truly transformed Iron Horse into another bar altogether.