PENN SOCIAL
PENN SOCIAL
“We had to make this huge place work or lose all of our investors’ money. The pressure was on.”
With the comedy club closed, we transformed the space into Penn Social with three huge bars, giant projection screens throughout, and started packing the house during sports season and adding DJ’s and live music to fill in the gaps. Penn Social was a hit from day one.
Once again, artist Billy Colbert came in and, over many months, he painted a fabulous mural across the walls in the huge basement space. We added shuffleboard, video games, pool and ping pong. The vibe was electric.
Like all bars and restaurants, we were derailed by the pandemic in 2020 but we were fortunate to receive a restaurant relief grant which allowed us to pay our staff and re-imagine the space. We decided to shift gears and build a private event space, assuming that the work force would return and be hungry to make up for lost time. DC never came back to their offices, and Penn Social has struggled ever since. Only now, in 2024 are we starting to see some traction.
