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It was rough sledding last night for restaurant and bar owners seeking liquor license approval from Community Board 3, which covers the Lower East Side and the East Village, among other 'hoods. Perhaps the biggest loser was fastidious cocktail impresario Sasha Petraske (Milk and Honey), whose humble request to serve wine at his would-be wine bar Mercury Dime (pictured) on East 5th Street was mercilessly shot down, despite the fact that he's operated Milk and Honey on Eldridge since 2000 without a single noise complaint.
Some very vocal locals have been increasingly effective in pressuring CB3 to deny liquor license applications (as East 6th Street's Death & Co. can attest), and last night was no exception. Now Petraske tells Eater he's losing thousands of dollars a month on the dry Mercury Dime, with profits from his other ventures barely keeping everything afloat. He also says he's fed up with the rowdy tools who keep ruining his speakeasy-style Milk and Honey, so he's changing it into a private club.
CB3 also refused to recommend a liquor license for Avenue B's Mercadito, even though the owners removed a highly controversial bench which bothered neighbors because people sat on it and chatted. Oddly enough, the one establishment before the board last night that actually is giving New York nightlife a bad name, sleazy burlesque drug bazaar The Box, got off with an adjournment so they could work with their neighbors. Grub Street was shocked to see co-owner Randy Weiner "looking downright chummy with [board] members," to which Weiner replied, "You're shocked? I can't believe that. I've been trying to work with these people for months." But nearby resident Mary Anne Inouye tells LES Free Press that the decision seemed strange, going on to say out loud what we're all thinking: “If it was a political thing, I would say follow the money.”
Photo courtesy Arcania Project.
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All I can say is Hallelujah and about time. If you live or visit the neighborhood and you're over the age of 18 the puke and alcoholism training and date rape can get a little tiresome. And from the smell of things I'd say that's it not giving the landlords that extra jump in rents they've been dreaming about. You don't get the high paying tenants in kiddie-puke land.
It's time to get rid of CB's they are useless. The only thing they do is moan and groan and slow down projects but they really don't do anything for the communities they serve. CB2 is a great example of a bunch of politically appointed assholes that just sit around and moan and groan and threaten "If you don't listen to me I will call my other asshole friends down at city hall and put a stop to what you are trying to do."
Dear residents, Didn't you move there because it is the super cool bohemian mecca of New York past and present? Didn't you love the nightlife and accessibility of all the cool bars and restaurants?
The LES is not the UWS and it isn't suburbia. Behind every wave of yuppie hipster crap that you are experiencing is another cultural boom. But you will have chased out all the restaurants and bars by then, the galleries and boutiques will be replaced with a GAP, and you can have your quiet little piece of gentrified crap where the real estate is driven by what once was, and "thank god" is gone. Only a shell will remain and you will be looking toward the next place with a cultural vibe, all the while complaining about what happened where you reside now.
You lost me glob. The lower west village never had anything to do with "bohemia". When I moved down here there was no nightlife and we liked it. We over here at "Hudson Square" don't even have a Duane Reade close by, or a Staples, or a Trader Joe. Not even a lousy local dry cleaner.
Dear residents, Didn't you move there because it is the super cool bohemian mecca of New York past and present? Didn't you love the nightlife and accessibility of all the cool bars and restaurants?
Do you think bohemia is extremely expensive cocktail joints that the locals can't afford to visit during the week? Or frat boy troughs to rake in as much dough before the kids puke it all up?
What about theaters? What about neighborhood bars that locals and visitors can hang out in and hold conversations? What about space that is affordable for clubs, political associations, art galleries, martial arts, yoga and dance classes, bookstores, record stores, funky antique shops, original restaurants, music clubs, bars for flirting, dancing and even sex in the dark corners?
Without that you have no bohemia. What you is a captive crowd of dupes getting poisoned by the alcohol lobby.
> the puke and alcoholism training and date rape can get a little >tiresome
If one thinks that places such as Death and Company or The Mercury Dime are even remotely related to these claims, you obviously have never been to them. Death and Company would be embraced in any other neighborhood, despite the lies and disinformation that the morons from CB3 propagate
Funny how Randy Weiner go his place, eh??? How much did that one cost under the table???...if you think the Community Boards are a fair uncorrupted group of upstanding representatives of your community, than I have an investment bank I'd like to sell you.
If Death and Company and The Mercury Lounge are a cut above then they have my sympathy. They obviously don't belong in the neighborhood and would do well to relocate to Carroll Gardens where they might find a clientele and a community board that hasn't already been reamed by a decade of liquor zoning sleaze.
***If*** it was a political thing? Uh, duh, everything is political and she's right, follow the money: That is your job John Del Signore! You can't write this article without mentioning David McWater, the Chair of CB3 and the owner of a half a dozen bars, including Doc Holliday’s, the Library, Nice Guy Eddie’s and Julep on Avenue A and Vasmay Lounge on E. Houston St.
Google his name in quotes with a word like "Bar" or "julep" thrown in and you'll get some more info. $$$$$$$$$
@ #7
Sadly, sinisterteashop - places like Death and Co and Mercury Lounge are a cut above the rest. Think of it like this
Every other Bar in EV : McDonald's
Death and Co/MD : Per Se
Totally different clientele and atmosphere.