NIGHTLIFE

State Liquor Authority Chairman Daniel Boyle, ranked No. 21 on The Observer's 100 Most Powerful People in New York Real Estate, has lost some clout in the apparent political fallout from his unsuccessful fight to sink the Cipriani family's restaurant empire.

According to the New York Post, fellow SLA commissioners Noreen Healey and Jeanique Greene "sprung a surprise resolution to strip Boyle - the sole board member to vote against the Ciprianis - of all powers previously delegated to him to conduct authority business. Instead, the resolution required approval of the full three-member board for any actions."  read more »

"Your heart almost gets ripped out every time these things happen," said City Councilwoman Gale Brewer, calling just past deadline on Tuesday to comment on the hallowed P & G bar's looming departure from its longstanding location at the corner of Amsterdam Avenue and 73rd Street.

"Many patrons of P & G call me all the time," Ms. Brewer said. "Even though it's not leaving the neighborhood, I hate to have it move -- and I don't know what happens with the sign."

The bar's beaming red, yellow and green "Cafe Bar" sign has illuminated the corner since 1942 and is widely considered a neighborhood landmark; its fate is now up in the air as the bar's owners plan to relocate to 380 Columbus Avenue after a fruitless two-year struggle to stay put.  read more »

On Wednesday night, former Knitting Factory owner Michael Dorf unveiled his new 21,000-square-foot City Winery in the former El Diario space at 143 Varick Street.

The refurbished building, now housing some 250 barrels of wine, is owned by Trinity Church. And, as part of his lease agreement, Mr. Dorf said he is committed to providing the church with one big barrel of custom-made sacramental wine each spring.  read more »

State regulators aren't letting up on posh Chelsea club Marquee owners Noah Tepperberg and Jason Strauss.

The New York State Liquor Authority (S.L.A.) has denied the club's request for an all-night permit on New Year's Eve, according to the New York Post.

The agency is "cracking down on applicants" for the permit -- which allows bar operators to skip the usual 4 a.m. last call and keep selling booze an extra four hours on the Jan. 1 holiday -- "denying permits to nightspots that haven't reported their plans to the NYPD, as mandated, or that have serious charges on their records," the Post reports.  read more »

The city's ever-wasteful nightlife industry toasts its first eco-friendly venue tonight during a private opening party at Greenhouse in Soho, according to the boozy blog Down By The Hipster.

Back in July, The Observer's Gillian Reagan spoke with Greenhouse operator Jon Bakhshi about his vision for the space, located at 150 Varick Street:  read more »

Originally a church, later an infamous nightclub, and more recently the site of a planned mini-mall, the gothic 12,000-square-foot building best known as the Limelight is again headed for an uncertain future.

Nightlife veteran Steve Lewis reports for BlackBook.com that a deal between landlord Ben Ashkenazy and the New York Artist Series has fallen through.

Perhaps not surprisingly, either, according to Mr. Lewis:

The rent of $2.4 million a year seemed high to me, considering the negative history of the place...

 read more »

GQ-crowned "Modern Hotel Maestro" Klaus Ortlieb hosted roughly 60 guests at his Tribeca loft on Wednesday night in a preview of the yet-unfinished Cooper Square Hotel's culinary offerings.

Mr. Ortlieb, 50, a partner in the hotel's management company, MK Hotels, suggested the somewhat divisive 21-story, 145-room, Carlos Zapata-designed lodge may be just weeks away from opening.

Among other permitting issues, developer Matt Moss, who was also on hand for the festivities, said he was still trying to obtain a certificate of occupancy. (Mr. Moss' original partner in the project, Crescent Hotel developer Gregory Peck, did not attend.)

Los Angeles-based chef Govind Armstrong commandeered Mr. Ortlieb's kitchen and home office for the fete, serving up samples of porterhouse, squab and a creamy celery soup with strips of bacon.

The hotel's forthcoming Table 8 restaurant will be Mr. Armstrong's third location after L.A. and Miami.

Bartender extraordinaire Sasha Petraske might just be stuck brewing coffee at Mercury Dime on East Fifth Street, after local Community Board 3 again declined to support his aspirations of alcohol service, according to Eater.

Grub Street adds a splash of drama, noting that the Milk & Money maestro "must have assumed his fate, as he didn't show at the meeting."

Still, his pint dreams probably aren't completed crushed by the community board's rejection.

The vote is only advisory, and other bars, notably including the Beatrice Inn, have succeeded in slinging drinks, despite neighborhood protests. That being said, the ruling New York State Liquor Authority (SLA) has tended to lend a more sympathetic ear to the various community boards' whims in recent years.  read more »

Neighbors protesting the trendy Beatrice Inn's effort to renew its liquor license were outraged last week to find out that they were effectively wasting their breath.

By the time the issue had come to local Community Board 2 for a vote on Sept. 18, the hip celebrity hangout's renewal had already been approved by the State Liquor Authority .

"Advise us on how to get rid of this place," pleaded one aghast neighbor.

Raymond Lee, chairman of the board's SLA committee, explained that there was really little that the panel could do because -- despite allegations of the popular hot spot's "coke den" reputation -- the Beatrice on 285 West 12th Street had no record of violations with the SLA (an apparent prerequisite for nixing a renewal).  read more »

"I think we've broken the curse," said Dustin Cappelletto, co-owner of the forthcoming Travertine restaurant at 19 Kenmare Street, after a divided Community Board 2 narrowly voted 17 to 14 to support the eatery's liquor license during a contentious meeting on Thursday night.

"It's a dream come true," added his teary sister and partner, Danae Cappelletto, who hoped to open the two-level, 2,800-square-foot Mediterranean restaurant in January.

The Cappellettos are the fourth proposed operators to take a crack at the embattled former site of Little Charlie's Clam House.

Hollywood impresario Ivan Kane had initially intended to open an East Coast version of his Forty Deuce burlesque club in the space more than a year ago, before  read more »

An ongoing dispute with an upstairs neighbor continues to create more legal headaches for David Kaplan, proprietor of the popular yet embattled East Village cocktail lounge Death & Co.

Mr. Kaplan, who is also suing the State Liquor Authority over its decision to not renew his liquor license, has now filed for a court injunction barring landlord P.V.P. Management from evicting his bar, located at 433 East Sixth Street, over alleged noise issues.

The tenant living directly above the bar, identified in court papers as Joseph Hurley, has claimed that "repeated and forcible closing of the [bar's] front door ... causes a severe and unreasonable amount of vibration" in his apartment.  read more »

Celebrity hotelier Robert De Niro's notoriously secretive Greenwich Hotel has finally allowed another media outlet, besides Vanity Fair, to peak inside its exclusive chambers. Sort of.

Hotel Chatter - which had its own reservation revoked in April - directs us to this recent Newsweek review of Bobby D.'s lodge, which briefly discusses the rooms, the food, and the decor of this supposed "below-the-radar" hotel.

What, no mention of that posh illegal penthouse?

The New York Post's Steve Cuozzo today pleaded with state regulators not to revoke the liquor licenses of seven Cipriani restaurants and banquet halls around town:

It would...cost more than 1,000 jobs, leave our most iconic celebration spaces empty for the foreseeable future, and knock the fizz out of the city's culture of excess - the golden goose that keeps the talent-fleeing, jobs-hemorrhaging "Empire State" afloat.

Apparently, new State Liquor Authority (S.L.A.) commissioner Jeanique Green is a big Post reader.

This morning, Ms. Green cast the deciding vote to accept a $500,000 penalty in lieu of yanking the licenses, thus allowing the Cipriani empire to stay in business.  read more »

Banquet king Giuseppe Cipriani may have finally met his match in Daniel Boyle, chairman of the New York State Liquor Authority, writes Page Six Magazine scribe Joshua David Stein.

After losing his valuable lease in a legal fight at the Toy Center, the dapper restaurateur now faces life without bellinis, if archnemesis Mr. Boyle has his way and puts all seven Cipriani establishments effectively out of business by stripping their liquor licenses.

How ironic, writes Mr. Stein, if "a clan that has catered to the haute monde for almost 80 years could suddenly be brought down by a normal, middle-class guy in a regular, old courtroom next month.  read more »

Mere months after the highly publicized shuttering of Scores West, investigators have busted yet another Manhattan strip club for selling what the industry so politely calls "extras."

Cops arrested lawyer Louis Posner, proprietor of the popular Hot Lap Dance Club, located at 344 West 38th Street, and some 20 other people, including adult film star and "feature performer" Alexia Moore, on prostitution and money-laundering charges over the weekend.

I recently asked former Scores dancer Ruth Fowler, author of the new stripper memoir, No Man's Land, whether there are any New York strip clubs that don't allow that sort of thing.

"Flash Dancers," replied Ms. Fowler, who performed at various venues around town. "They're really fucking strict. They're, like, the cleanest club I've ever worked at. They're so hard on girls who do extras."

Today marked the ceremonial ribbon-cutting of the hugely hyped Chelsea hotel in Atlantic City.

Hotelier Curtis Bashaw recently sat down with The Observer to discuss the $110 million project, which aims to lure more young, hip New Yorkers to South Jersey's gritty gaming town and otherwise restore some of the ancient seaside destination's long-lost glamour.

"We do a lot of real estate projects -- we've done ground-up buildings in the city and all sorts of other stuff -- but these hotel renovation projects are among the most challenging and rewarding and pleasurable projects," said Mr. Bashaw, 48, who, alongside his Cape Advisors partner Craig Wood, has combined an old Howard Johnson and Holiday Inn into a single 330-room boutique hotel on the boardwalk.  read more »

It's only July and already the so-called "Summer of Hope" is winding down on Coney Island.

Gowanus Lounge is reporting that the various rides and attractions touted by controversial developer Joe Sitt back in April are currently being dismantled, apparently headed to some other carnival site in Tennessee.

After 10 years of getting bruised and battered by the biggest linemen and linebackers in college and professional football, former West Virginia University and Pittsburgh Steelers standout Amos Zereoue is now trying to finesse his way to success in the smash-mouth New York City restaurant scene.

Which is tougher?

"Life in the New York restaurant scene--hands down," said the 5-foot-8, 200 pound, 31-year-old redshirt restaurateur, looking rather Usher-esque in a white suit and shades, during a boozy relaunch party Wednesday for his 2,200-square-foot eponymously named eatery, Zereoue, at 13 East 37th Street.

Originally opened in 2006, in the former Frere Jacques space, Mr. Zereoue's West African and French fusion restaurant has twice closed down for some needed retooling; most recently, a complete overhaul.  read more »

Veteran nightclub broker Alex Picken, founder of Picken Real Estate and Nightlife Brokerage, married his company's creative director, Pornthip "Jije" Sooksai, in a ceremony in Manhattan on Sunday.

Toasting his new bride later that night, Mr. Picken, 49, jokingly stuttered over the words "my lovely wife" -- a term he said "most of you thought you'd never hear me say."

The newlyweds were introduced to friends and family to the tune of the Rihanna hit "Umbrella" during a boozy reception at Providence, a lavish, three-level, 13,500-square-foot nightspot at 311 West 57th Street, for which Mr. Picken served as site selector, negotiator and broker.

The happy occasion may have marked the notorious night owl's official retirement from bachelorhood -- but "not the industry," he insisted.

Regulators continue to crack down on the infamous Kalua Cabaret in Jamaica, Queens -- site of the controversial 2006 police shooting that claimed the life of Sean Bell.

First, the State Liquor Authority stripped the notorious strip club of its liquor license. Now, health inspectors have shuttered the topless juice joint for a number of unsanitary conditions, including evidence of mice.

Anti-bar-sprawl activists used to bemoan the State Liquor Authority's glaring lack of a single voice from New York City.

Now, the state agency is poised to include a bonafide majority of city slickers.

Governor David Paterson today nominated a former legislative aide, Jeanique Green, presently a senior court analyst in the New York City branch of the state Office of Court Administration, to cast the crucial third vote on all licensing matters.  read more »

Proprietors of venerable Coney Island institution Ruby's Bar & Grill hope to reopen Friday afternoon, following vigorous repairs to replace a collapsed floor in the men's room that sent one patron to the hospital over the weekend.

Much maligned developer Joseph Sitt of Thor Equities, who owns the building, is chipping in on the cost of repairs, which were completed yesterday, according to a source at the bar.  read more »

The Health Department has shuttered venerable Ruby's Bar & Grill on the Coney Island boardwalk following a bizarre incident on Saturday, which I reported in this week's Observer.

A cop on the scene summed it up thusly: “One guy was taking a leak, the floor partially collapsed, and he fell 10 feet.”

Police closed down the bar soon after the accident on Saturday. It reopened Sunday. Then the health inspector closed it down again yesterday, according to a well-placed source on the boardwalk.

David Kaplan, owner of embattled East Village cocktail cathedral Death & Co., is suing the State Liquor Authority (S.L.A.) over its refusal to renew his liquor license.

Mr. Kaplan had formally requested a reconsideration of that potentially business-killing decision this past February—a request the S.L.A. has since denied.

In court papers, Mr. Kaplan and his attorney have argued that the proprietors “never defrauded nor made misrepresentations” to the S.L.A.—despite what some critics in the neighborhood have alleged.  read more »

Long-embattled East Village nightspot Le Souk will remain open at least another week.

Proprietors of the North African-themed eatery and hookah bar at 47 Avenue B are appealing their case against the State Liquor Authority (S.L.A.), which recently yanked the venue's liquor license.  read more »

Embattled Scores owner Richard Goldring is suing the city and State Liquor Authority (S.L.A.) in federal court, alleging that the government's recent crackdown on his two Manhattan strip clubs violates his First Amendment rights.

In court papers, his latest attorney called last month's revocation of Mr. Goldring's liquor license at Scores West "a circumstance intended to terminate in Scores West any future First Amendment expressive entertainment and to chill the principals of Scores East and Scores West in the exercise of their First Amendment right to provide such entertainment."  read more »

After a lengthy legal fight, ravenous hotel developer Sam Chang has apparently given up his plan to tear down the old Pussycat Lounge at 96 Greenwich Street.

Mr. Chang has agreed to sell the ancient, circa-1799 building to Pussycat owner Robert Kremer for $2.5 million, according to city records -- that's $1 million less than Mr. Chang paid for it in 2005.  read more »

The champagne room has finally gone dry at embattled Manhattan strip club Scores West.

The New York Post reports that authorities from the New York State Liquor Authority (S.L.A.) showed up Wednesday to confiscate the voluptuous 10,000-square-foot venue's precious liquor license.

(Albeit apparently not before getting a visit from reality TV couple Alex and Simon McCord of "The Real Housewives of New York City" fame.)

The agency's action follows a prolonged legal battle with club management over the arrests of several Scores West employees on prostitution charges in January 2007.  read more »

Still reeling from the fallout of its highly publicized 2007 prostitution bust, embattled Manhattan strip club Scores West has filed for bankruptcy.

Court papers filed on Friday point to "mounting tax debt" and a "loss in sales" at the voluptuous 10,000-square-foot venue at 536 W. 28th St. "as a result of the actions by the New York State Liquor Authority proceeding against the [club] to revoke its liquor license."  read more »

It seems like every time you turn the corner these days you run into yet another new bar. This is especially true in the gentrified neighborhoods of Brooklyn and very much so in Prospect Heights. Time Out New York recently ran a page-long charticle on the heavy bar presence on Vanderbilt Avenue, the go-to strip for ProHo nightlife.

The eight-block avenue boasts restaurants, cafes and boutiques for moms and dads puttering around with their stroller-strapped kids during the day and by night there are no less than four drinking establishments and one on the verge of receiving its liquor license. Recently, my friends Adam and Dave joined me in hitting a few of my local spots, including the brand-new Weather Up and the six-year-old Soda.  read more »

Embattled Soho restaurant Lola will just have to make do without live music, the State Liquor Authority informed the eatery's owners on Thursday.

Proprietors Tom and Gayle Patrick-Odeen have said that their business—which has been the subject of a nasty, three-and-a-half-year legal dispute with neighbors, who have protested the place's right to sell booze—is "struggling" without live performances.

The couple recently told The Villager that they were "hanging on by a thread."

Live music had been a staple of the drinking and dining experience at the couple's prior location on West 22nd Street. But upon moving to the corner of Watts and Thompson streets, the duo initially applied to play background music only.

The owners insist that this was a clerical error and that the application was later "orally amended" by the SLA.  read more »

My first apartment in New York was conveniently located right across the street -- well within stumbling distance -- from the dive bar Fubar at 305 East 50th Street.

I always wondered how the reputedly rowdy tavern -- which the doorman warned me about on move-in day -- got its trade name past the liquor board.

As the Times glossed over today: "It is a military term that, in its polite form, stands for fouled up beyond all recognition." Or, as anyone who has seen the film Saving Private Ryan (or the Stallone classic Tango & Cash) would tell it: "Fucked up beyond all recognition."

The term was an accurate descriptor of the place -- even before Saturday's horrifying crane collapse, which literally pulverized the whole building.  read more »

Eater reports that sommelier Paul Grieco's long-awaited Terroir wine bar opens tonight, after some delay, on East 12th Street.

"There's not another wine bar that's run by such a wine figure in the city, I don't think," said Mr. Grieco's partner, chef Marco Canora.

Last week, The Observer sat down with both Mr. Grieco and Mr. Canora to discuss the project, their partnership, and wine bar economics. (Read the interview here.)

Expect "off-the-beaten-path" kinds of wines, as well as a substantial food menu.

"I have a huge advantage because I have this restaurant just down the block," said Mr. Canora, referring to the partners' Hearth restaurant at the corner of First Avenue and East 12th Street. "Somebody else who wants to open a 500-square-foot wine bar and they want to do food? Well, their hands are very tied as to what they can do... I have an entire kitchen over here."

Boozehounds are often warned about potential liver problems.

But recent patrons of Armin Amiri's trendy Socialista club may be at risk of something beyond cirrhosis: Hepatitis A.

The Health Department is advising as many as 800 Socialista patrons to get vaccinated, after a bartender at the Greenwich Village hotspot was diagnosed with the contagious liver disease, according to the Wall Street Journal health blog. (Free shots are available at P.S. 41 this weekend.)  read more »

"We didn't make the product -- the product made us," Ian Schrager told The Observer about becoming a famous hotelier.

What does the godfather of boutique hotels think of the latest wave of aspiring celebrity hoteliers, Robert De Niro, Giorgio Armani and Jay-Z?

"I think when people hear Jay-Z's name, they have a certain level of expectation of the kind of music they're going to hear. I don't think they have a lot of expectation about what kind of hotel they're going to get," he said.  read more »