DATE: Thursday, July 17, 1997               TAG: 9707170495

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B6   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JANIE BRYANT, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:   77 lines

AUCTIONEER CONCLUDES NIGHTCLUB'S NOISY LIFE

A green-and-pink neon glow spilled over the crowd gathering near the bar.

Glasses and decanters were lined up, and champagne buckets were stacked and ready to go.

The scene was a nightclub that dazzled thousands while driving a suburban neighborhood to distraction.

But the only noise echoing out of The Showcase on Wednesday morning was the rapid-fire chatter of an auctioneer.

After several years of problems, ranging from complaints of loud music to the shootings that occurred outside the club on Airline Boulevard, The Showcase was closed this spring.

On Wednesday morning, the doors opened to a hodgepodge of about 200 people that included restaurant owners and clergymen. All were dreaming of bargains on everything from kitchen equipment to ice machines.

Everything went on the block, from ashtrays and a sea of 218 bar stools, to the men's and women's lighted restroom signs, and cozy booth tables.

The miles of green and pink neon strips that stretched all over the nightclub went for $2,100.

The same buyer spent almost $3,000 more on part of the elaborate lighting system.

The building is owned by a Norfolk investor, but the auction was held by the owners of the nightclub's equipment.

Melvin Holland, who owned The Showcase's equipment with a partner, watched as his investment went on the block, piece by piece.

He declined to give the outcome of Wednesday's auction, but he said:

``Am I making money? No.''

Calvin Zedd of Zedd Auctioneers Ltd. said he felt the sale went well, and people in the crowd seemed to echo his assessment.

Some would-be buyers talked about how high the bids were going. One man chalked it up to the crowd and the number of moneyed businessmen there.

A hundred chairs were sold for $275. Ten of the 102 bar tables went for $150.

Gus Pramatias, owner of the Aberdeen Barn in Virginia Beach, was hoping to buy some glasses.

He ended up buying nothing.

New Hope Baptist Church of Virginia Beach bought the dishes, silverware, and water and iced-tea glasses that covered a long line of 8-foot folding tables.

Because New Hope bid for the goods a table at a time, said Aaron Hughes, a church trustee, he wasn't sure what he had spent.

But the church has just expanded, he said. So he and the minister had shown up prepared to spend as much as $2,000 on equipment the church needs for banquets and other events.

They had hoped to buy some chairs too, but felt they were going too high.

Allan Drewry, a local businessman, was there with a partner who was hoping to get a deal on a new ice machine for his Chesapeake motel.

``I might be interested in some of the stainless steel tables,'' said Tom Moodie, owner of a small Hampton restaurant.

By 12:30 p.m., a couple of people were helping Donna Williams load a car with a lighting track, some spotlights and even the strobe light that once poured a gyrating spectrum over The Showcase dance floor.

She got it all for $75.

She plans to use the equipment for her own nightclub, Le Den on Frederick Boulevard, where she hopes to add a jazz and oldies theme to the downstairs.

Earlier, the Rev. David Daniels had eyed some of those spotlights suspended over the dance floor.

``I'm looking for some theater lights,'' he said.

Daniels is the man behind a 230-seat Dream Center on the Outer Banks, which is now producing a musical based on the biblical love story of Ruth and Boaz.

His interest in stage lights gave way to a good look at the cavernous space of the former nightclub in which he was standing.

``This would make a great church,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MARK MITCHELL/The Virginian-Pilot

Calvin Zedd, pointing at left in background, auctions off a group of

tables and other contents of The Showcase on Wednesday, bringing to

an end a club that had been the target of frequent complaints by its

neighbors.

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