By Elizabeth Ladzinski and Tara Kyle
DNAinfo Reporters/Producers
WEST VILLAGE — After a mugging spate which saw five attacks on Christopher Street in the past month, bar owners are beefing up security.
"We've got drug dealers, we've got gangs out here. We're losing Christopher Street," said Robert Ziegler, owner and manager of the bar Boots and Saddle located at 76 Christopher Street.
The owner, speaking over the weekend, added that once Christopher Square, a small park that is adjacent to Christopher Street and 7th avenue, closes at 1 a.m., groups of youths come out in packs of 10 to 15.
Ziegler has had to hire additional security to watch both the inside and outside of his establishment after his employees have been robbed and attacked. He said he'd received threats that he'll be beaten up or even killed for kicking people out of his bar.
"I've got customers telling me it's too dangerous to come back," Ziegler said.
The owner noticed an uptick in customers being mugged and harassed in the past three years. Now he says it seems to occur almost every night.
He estimates his business is down 20 percent compared to the same time last year, due to the increased threat of crime.
"It's killing my bottom line," Ziegler said.
Ben Gee, a manager at Fat Cat, a late-night live music spot at 75 Christopher Street, said he's seen the aggravation Ziegler complains about.
"I don't think police believe sometimes how bad he has it," Gee said, adding, "He's on the bad side of the street."
He described the southwest corner at 7th Avenue and Christopher Street as a "hot corner," known for harboring local "entrepreneurs," or panhandlers.
"I'm sure when they see an opportunity, if they see someone who's not quite awake or pretty drunk, they take it," Gee said.
The manager added that he hasn't experienced the harassment firsthand at Fat Cat, but that one employee's mother has requested that her daughter be walked out after work late at night with a male companion as an extra precaution.
A bartender, known as "Tree," who has worked at Stonewall Inn at 53 Christopher Street for about four decades, says his block is relatively quiet, but that he has seen trouble in Christopher Square in the past.
"It's just stupid people, it doesn't make sense to me," Tree said.
He added that the bartenders in the area call each other and share descriptions of people who cause trouble.
"Everybody knows each other and protects each other," Tree said.
Police released photos of two of the mugging suspects over the weekend. The first mugging in the string was on April 11, when a man, 28, was assaulted on Seventh Avenue, at Christopher Street.
Four days later, the perps attacked a 68-year-old man at Christopher and Bedford streets, knocking him down. Police said they struck again on April 25, going after a 32-year-old man outside of 57 Christopher St., where Kettle of Fish is located, and committed two more robberies over the next two days.
On April 27, a 26-year-old man was hit on the head by a man and a woman before he was robbed, police said.
City Council speaker Christine Quinn gave advice to people in the area in the wake of the recent muggings.
"All of the victims have been men walking alone at night after leaving bars. Don't have your iPod on, don't be talking on the phone but, most importantly, walk in a group," Quinn said.
As for Ziegler, he wants to get more attention from the city to help take back the block.
"Sometimes I feel like I just need to move the bar somewhere else, but I just don't want to give up on Christopher Street."
