September 9, 2025
Hush Harbor wants you to reconnect and drink up the old-fashioned way.
A new Black-owned bar in Washington D.C. wants you to says cheers without posting to Instagram about it.
Hush Harbor, a new pub opened by former Hell’s Kitchen chef Rock Harper, finally let customers indulge on Sept. 5. However, they must commit to the bar’s no phone policy, influenced by Harper’s own new philosophy regarding technology use.
The chef has cut back on his phone usage, including hosting phone-free events at the bar’s prior iteration, Hill Prince. Located in the H street corridor, Harper wanted his reimagined restaurant to allow customers to reconnect the old-fashioned way.
“All we’re doing is giving people a little nudge to be supremely present and intentional about this hospitality experience,” explained Harper to the Washingtonian. “It’s not going to be preachy or punitive. I just know in my life and in others, if you put [your phone] away, you can really have a wonderful, different time that we’re not really used to having right now.”
To get his offline bar running, Harper partnered with local Luddite, Danny Hogenkamp, who has already spearheaded the growing anti-phone movement across the district. However, they don’t intend to lock phones up in the back office, letting customers keep their devices on hand, just covered up.
They accomplish this feat with the help of Yondr, a company that provides phone-holding pouches with magnetic locks. While already popular for phone-barring events, its introduction into everyday spaces is a step in an offline direction.
Harper emphasized that all customers must comply with this golden rule, or else patronize another bar in the area. Staff are no exception, but follow commonplace procedure to not use their phones at work anyway.
“There’s no negotiation on you using your phone inside,” Harper continued. “Barring an emergency, that ain’t happening.”
On a bigger scale, Harper believes social media has made others less friendly or willing to genuinely engage in topics. The bar’s name itself, Hush Harbor, is a lesser known term in Black history as well. According to the news outlet, the phrase stems from enslaved Black people as they gathered in the woods to speak or pray in private.
Now, Harper wants the term to call back to this sense of community. Especially during D.C.’s own political strife, he wants this black-owned bar to become a safe space.
“The idea of a hush harbor, it’s a thing but it’s also a place where we need to be in community with one another,” added Harper. “We need to have a place to gather. This is really relevant right now, especially in D.C. We need places that are safe spaces and community places.”
Despite some concerns on whether customers would stay for a round or two, Harper claimed many have willingly complied. He said the move pushed people to connect with other customers, with no one feeling stressed about getting their phone back.
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