Is the party over for Himmarshee Village in downtown Fort Lauderdale?
Not quite, but city commissioners are on the verge of decertifying the troubled Special Entertainment District, where bars stay open till 4 a.m. and enjoy other special privileges, including higher allowed sound levels and extended noise hours.
A chorus of high-profile critics made a strong case Tuesday night for shutting down the district, saying it had turned into a dangerous gathering spot that was giving Fort Lauderdale a bad reputation and scaring people away.
After hearing pleas from more than a dozen prominent community and business leaders, commissioners agreed to decertify the entertainment district and strip it of its special privileges.
Tuesday night’s vote was unanimous. A final commission vote is coming on Nov. 17.
“We’ve created an environment that has become known throughout the county and our neighboring counties that this is where you come to party,” Commissioner John Herbst said before the vote. “We have created Bourbon Street in Fort Lauderdale. The answer to that is get rid of Bourbon Street.”
Here’s what’s changing: Bars in Himmarshee Village will no longer be allowed to stay open till 4 a.m.
The new hours — last call at 2 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday — will kick in immediately after the final commission vote in November.
In the meantime, the Fort Lauderdale Police Department has stepped up enforcement, creating a high-visibility presence along the Himmarshee strip on Southwest Second Street in an effort to curb the uptick in violence and late-night street gatherings.
Bars are under pressure to prohibit underage drinking and avoid over-serving.
The changes are a long time coming, said Commissioner Steve Glassman, whose district includes the neighborhood.
Bars in Himmarshee Village line the street in downtown Fort Lauderdale in January. City commissioners say they are ready to tighten rules for the entertainment zone after a shooting in December and street fight in March. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
“We’ve been more than patient over many years to give these folks the opportunity to clean up their street. And it has not happened,” Glassman told the South Florida Sun Sentinel after the meeting.
“I think it was time and we’re going to really move forward now in cleaning it up,” Glassman added. “It’s affecting our image. It’s affecting investment. It’s affecting redevelopment of that area. It’s not a good look.”
Fort Lauderdale officials point to previous incidents that have put the area and the city in a bad light.
A mass shooting in December 2025 left five people wounded.
Three months later, a street brawl went viral in March 2026, putting the late-night party zone squarely in the national spotlight.
Fort Lauderdale commissioners banned open containers and outdoor alcohol sales in January 2026 but stopped short of enforcing a 2 a.m. closing time after hearing a fierce protest from the owners and their workers saying it would be bad for business.
The shootings continued.
In July, a parking garage shooting left a 43-year-old man wounded.
Shots rang out again in September as police were trying to break up a fight. While no victim was found at the scene, a man later arrived at a nearby hospital with a gunshot wound.
Developer Alan Hooper, one of several high-profile leaders who spoke up before Tuesday’s commission vote, compared Himmarshee to a red light district.
Hooper reminded the commission he is chair of the Performing Arts Center Authority, the volunteer board that governs the Broward Center for the Performing Arts that sits just west of the bars on Himmarshee Street.
“We have crime, shootings, massive brawls, underage drinking, drugs,” Hooper told the commission. “And I don’t see why we want to preserve this. It’s a shame that this area has come to this. This is a jewel of a neighborhood with so much potential. The time for talk and for promises is over. After the recent shooting, it’s time to close down this entertainment district.”
Himmarshee Village draws a big crowd during Spring Break in downtown Fort Lauderdale’s entertainment district on Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Scott Luxor/Contributor)
Richard Mercedes, owner of the restaurant Emily’s Garden, also appealed to the commission.
“We made the investment and we’re there,” he said. “But a lot of people we know will not come to our restaurant past 9 p.m. They just don’t want to come downtown. They’re afraid. Please help us. Please decertify.”
Glassman, speaking from the dais, told the crowd residents have sent him videos of the raucous scene on Second Street.
“When I see videos of the fights, of folks defecating on the sidewalk, of people urinating on the streets, this behavior cannot continue,” he said. “It’s not what our city is about. I think our economic development should not suffer because of what is happening on one street. We have given this our best shot. And it is obvious that this district is not living up to its intention.”
Glassman said he walked around the district after a recent news conference where the city announced an increased police presence on Himmarshee Street to crack down on crime.
“I saw all of the brick pavers covered in gum,” Glassman said. “I saw nothing but broken glass and cigarette butts and trash. The whole street feels dirty. It feels greasy. And I can see why people don’t want to spend time there. The shootings, the violence, the underage drinking, the public disorder in general is unacceptable.”
Fort Lauderdale established the Himmarshee Village entertainment district in 1999 to help create a more vibrant nightlife district, but it’s now time for the experiment to end, Mayor Dean Trantalis told the Sun Sentinel.
“It created a licentious culture where people think anything goes,” he said. “We should not have an area that people are afraid to come to. We’re in a culture now of influencers. Everyone is videotaping, livestreaming what’s going on. Everyone wants to be a celebrity and this is a stage. Well, we’re putting a stop to that.”
Fort Lauderdale’s Himmarshee Village was abuzz during Spring Break, seen in this file photo. (South Florida Sun Sentinel, file photo)
Fort Lauderdale requires bars to be separated by 300 feet, but relaxes that rule for special entertainment districts.
Without that entertainment district status, bars in Himmarshee could be forced to close. To stay open, they would be required to seek a waiver within six months of the commission vote in November — unless they are grandfathered in.
Ellyn Bogdanoff, an attorney who represents six bars in Himmarshee, told commissioners the bars are not to blame for what’s happening out on the street.
“I am here to applaud the city manager and the police chief for doing what the bar owners have been begging them to do for years,” she said. “They are going to increase enforcement. They are really going to get a handle on the underage drinking. They are going to increase the power washing of the streets.”
Bogdanoff urged the city to give the police crackdown more time to work before decertifying the entertainment district.
Herbst argued the increased police presence downtown was leaving other parts of the city with fewer officers on patrol.
“Yes, the chief is flooding Second Street with officers,” Herbst said. “And you want to know what that means? My district is left unprotected so that Second Street can be safe. My area is being left vulnerable for the benefit of a handful of bars on Second Street. I can’t have District 1 suffering to benefit the bar owners downtown.”
Ian Lowe, an owner of Original Fat Cats, was among a handful of bar owners who asked the commission to let the bars stay open till 4 a.m.
“If you take away two hours on the weekdays and one hour on the weekends, Original Fat Cats will lose 50% of its business with the reduced hours,” he said. “I implore you not to do this. Taking away the extra hours is not going to solve the problem. It’s only going to cripple the good actors that are trying to keep the (entertainment) district great.”
John Farino, general manager at Munchie’s, defended his bar and others on the street.
“We are the scapegoat,” he said. “Everyone’s trying to blame us. The underage drinking is taking place outside of the bars. Where is the gun violence happening? Are these people with the guns and the knives getting into any of our bars? No. They’re hanging out on the street. They’re loitering. They’re drinking their own booze.”
But Bill Brown, president of the Council of Fort Lauderdale Civic Associations, told the commission it’s time for things to change.
“This is deja vu,” Brown said. “Let’s go back a year and a half ago. One of the attorneys that spoke tonight said, ‘Give us some time, we’ll fix this.’ But guess what. They haven’t. We can’t keep kicking that beer can or that bottle of whiskey down the road. It’s time to do something. Again, please do the right thing for the right reason.”
Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan