The owners of a controversial Long Island City strip club twice denied a state liquor license will be taking their case to Albany on October 25, where the State Liquor Authority (SLA) will reconsider their most recent application..
Lawyers for 21 Group Inc. have asked the state panel to review the application for Show Palace, an all-nude club formerly called Gypsy Rose, at 42-50 21st Street in Long Island City – just steps away from the upper level of the Queensborough Bridge.
When local leaders, elected officials and business owners battled against a liquor license for Gypsy Rose in January 2012, the club owners vowed to reporters that they would open a strip joint at the location – alcohol or no alcohol.
The local voices reverberated with SLA officials and the agency rejected the second application earlier this year.
Club owners made good on their threat in May, when they opened Show Palace as a “juice bar” featuring full nudity, bypassing a city law that says alcohol and full nudity don’t mix.
Area officials and community leaders opposed approval of the liquor license since 2010, charging the club would damage Long Island City’s restored image as a family neighborhood.
“Motorists stop at a red light and stare at the all-nude sign outside the club,” City Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer said. “That’s not the welcome mat we want for our neighborhood.
“We are proud to call this area the gateway to Queens and it has changed for the better with more families moving in and calling the neighborhood home,” Van Bramer said.
An attorney for the 21 Group told reporters the club meets all zoning and building code regulations, making the club owners qualified to hold a liquor license.
Owners touted the club on their website as an “upscale adult entertainment establishment,” and described the neighborhood as “desolate, dark and dingy,” saying the club would provide jobs and “nightlife in the area.”
Local business leaders brushed off the owner’s description of the neighborhood and said the original application was denied, in part, because SLA had questions about the “character and fitness” of one of the club owners.
Sources said a January 2011 liquor license for Gypsy Rose was denied by the SLA, in part, based on insider trading charges that were filed against one of the club owners.
“In my mind, nothing has changed since the first two filings,” Van Bramer said.
In a September 19 letter to the SLA, State Sen. Michael Gianaris said, “I continue to believe this neighborhood is not the appropriate place for a sex-based business, particularly as there is so much revitalization occurring and an increase in families and businesses moving here.
“The addition of alcohol to this business will only lessen the quality of life in this improving neighborhood,” Gianaris said.
Officials at Community Board 2 said they are “mobilizing the troops” in their battle to halt SLA approval of the liquor license.
“We have good reason to hope the SLA will recognize our objections and will deny this third application,” the officials said.
