An Astoria nightclub is under fire
Photo:Lilly O'Donnell
After several arrests at the nightlcub Amnesia, local leaders want to block its liquor license.
By Lilly O'Donnell October 06, 2011
Astoria might soon have to forget about Amnesia Nightclub.
Some community members want to see the place closed after six arrests and 17 police reports have been linked to it since January 2010, four of them for assault, according to Community Affairs Officer Eddie Negron of the 114th Precinct.
“It’s one of the most problematic premises in the 114th Precinct,” he said at a community board meeting on September 20.
On a Saturday night outside of Amnesia, music can be heard blaring into the street, mixing with the loud chatter of patrons waiting behind velvet ropes to be let in.
Astoria is known to have a bustling nightlife, and a few other establishments have trouble with noise complaints from their residential neighbors – one bar has 54 – but Amnesia is on a commercial, not a residential block.
The club draws a young crowd because the minimum age to get in is 18. Security gives wristbands at the door to those who are 21 or older, only after scrutinizing IDs with flashlights and stern faces. But inside the club it's dark and crowded. One young woman – with a wristband – was heard at the entrance of the club reassuring a friend that she would buy drinks and bring them back to the table, after the friend complained that she'd have to stay sober since she was only 18 years old.
The members of Community Board 1 gasped and muttered to each other when Officer Negron revealed that four of the six arrests had been for the sale of alcohol to a minor. But then, when he followed that up with the fact one of the arrests and 10 of the police reports had been for assault, the board voted to do what they could to shut the place down.
While community boards don’t have the direct authority to shutter a business, they can recommend that the State Liquor Authority not renew a license – which would cripple any bar.
The nightclub’s current liquor license will expire on Halloween of this year, according to the State Liquor Authority. The first step of renewal is to notify the Community Board that an application is forthcoming, with at least 30 days notice, so the board can vote on a recommendation. That first step didn’t go so well for Amnesia this time around.
Community Board 1 has made only one other recommendation that a liquor license not be renewed in the last six months, in that instance for a strip club called XXO, according to District Manager Lucille Hartman. Hartman said that the board doesn’t write these recommendations for every little offense, but that it plans to in this case because of the violence associated with Amnesia.
At least one patron of the club doesn’t believe the concern is warranted.
Danielle Odoen, 18, who was waiting in line to get in the club on a recent night, said she had never seen any violence at Amnesia, noting that security is always tight at the door – bags are thoroughly searched and partygoers patted down.
“It’s my party spot,” Oden said. “I would be sad if it closed.”
The state agency could, of course, still grant the nightclub’s application, but the agency’s guidelines say that while the Community Boards’ recommendations are not binding, they are made a part of the record and taken under consideration in every case.
The management of the club could not be reached, and security declined to comment.
