PORTAGE PARK — Club E, which has been the source of several complaints about noise and violence, will be closed for 29 days starting Monday after city officials temporarily suspended its liquor license, authorities said Wednesday.
Club E owner Jania Dzdyk agreed to the suspension to resolve three charges against the club stemming from an incident on New Year's Day when club employees were charged with selling alcohol after permitted hours, failing to cooperate with police and for assaulting an officer, said Ald. Tim Cullerton (38th).
"I'm hoping that she got the message and will be more conscientious," Cullerton said, referring to Dzdyk.
Heather Cherone explains why the club is shut down:
Dzdyk declined to comment Wednesday through the answering service for the club at 5415 W. Irving Park Road.
The agreement does not include an admission of guilt on the part of the club or any of its employees, but will become part of the club's city liquor license record, Cullerton said.
Mika Stambaugh, a spokesman for the city's Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, declined to comment Wednesday on the matter, saying it was the subject of a pending lawsuit.
An employee of the club — which boasts on its website that it has the country's largest vibrating dance floor — refused to stop taking a cellphone video of an officer, and was charged with aggravated battery after an altercation ensued Jan. 1, Cullerton said.
"I'm not sure why the police officer was at the club, whether he was conducting a premises check or had been called there," Cullerton said.
Cullerton said he met with Dzdyk after the incident and asked her to paint the front of the club, which is across the street from Portage Park, because it is looking "worn."
In addition, Cullerton said police officials have asked the owner to scan or photocopy the identification of everyone who comes to the club for one of its Top 40, Electronic Dance Music or Latino music shows.
"That would really help the police if something were to happen," Cullerton said.
In October, a 25-year-old man was shot in the left arm after he left the club. Identified by police as a member of the Maniac Latin Disciples, he refused to cooperate with authorities.
Patrols were stepped up outside the club after the shooting, and the club hired additional security to disperse patrons after closing time, Cullerton said.
"We're hoping some of those measures will calm things down," Cullerton said, adding that the club also imposed a dress code that prohibited hoodies and jeans.
Neighbors of the club have long complained about noise, drug use and violence from patrons of Club E.
Cullerton said that shooting and a spate of others last fall were part of an influx of gang activity into Portage Park he and police were working to combat.
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