By Carla Zanoni
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
UPPER MANHATTAN — Two problematic nightclubs in Upper Manhattan are due in court after they were recently shuttered by police responding to the community's nightlife concerns.
Officers from the 34th Precinct shut down both TBA Lounge in Inwood and Serie 56 in Washington Heights over the past two months after the clubs were found in violation of court orders, which stipulated they must improve conditions at their establishments in order to keep their doors open, according to court documents obtained by DNAinfo.
"We put these clubs on notice and they didn’t comply, so they were shut down," Captain Jose Navarro of the 34th Precinct said at a community meeting on Wednesday night.
According to Navarro, TBA Lounge, at 3795 Tenth Avenue near 203rd Street, was closed down in November after police determined the club was operating with inadequate security at the front of the establishment, and Serie 56, at 4448 Broadway, near West 189th Street, was shut down in early December after police observed underage drinking.
Community complaints about Serie 56 and TBA Lounge date back several years, with residents complaining about noise and violent confrontations spilling out from both locations on a nightly basis.
Navarro could not say how long each club might stay closed, explaining that the clubs would appear in civil court where a judge would determine whether and when the clubs might reopen. Officials were not sure of the exact date the court appearance was scheduled for.
Club owners for both establishments could not be reached for comment.
Both club owners had agreed to stipulations stemming from civil court cases in July 2010, which demanded the clubs clean up their acts.
In October, Navarro had said police would be keeping a close eye on nightlife establishments in Upper Manhattan, but did not specify which clubs were being observed.
Both clubs were under surveillance as part of the Multi-Agency Response to Community Hotspots initiative (MARCH), a partnership run out of the Criminal Justice Coordinator’s office and organised by the NYPD, where nuisance spots are monitored by different agencies to identify infractions, according to the police captain.
The crackdown on Upper Manhattan nightclubs comes in response to long held community complaints regarding quality of life issues stemming from these popular nightspots.
Neither club is a stranger to being closed down due to such violations and failure to comply with State Liquor Authority rules.
Last year, both clubs were fined and temporarily closed for violations involving violence at the clubs and underage drinking, but both reopened after paying fines.
