UPPER WEST SIDE — An Amsterdam Avenue bar that closed recently after months of neighborhood complaints and police attention is facing several violations.
The New York State Liquor Authority is investigating charges that 420 Bar & Lounge sold booze to underage drinkers, allowed fighting and was a source of ongoing noise and disturbances for neighbors, an SLA spokesman said.
Representatives for the bar, at 420 Amsterdam Avenue and West 80th Street, have pleaded not guilty to the charges. If the violations are upheld at a Nov. 30 hearing, the bar could lose its liquor license and be charged up to $80,000 in fines, the SLA spokesman said.
The State Liquor Authority fined the bar $5,000 after a fight broke out on the premises in 2008.
The bar's closure in October, first reported by neighborhood blog My Upper West, followed months of complaints from neighbors who said it was too loud and attracted a rowdy crowd.
The watering hole also had several run-ins with the police, who said there was drug activity at the bar. In May, cops broke up a fight involving 10 people.
420 Bar and Lounge's owner, Eric Holzer, told DNAinfo that police unfairly cracked down on his establishment because it was an "urban club" that played hip-hop music. Holzer could not be reached for comment.
