HELL’S KITCHEN — Community Board 4 voted against a liquor license for a bar in what's currently the home of an Eighth Avenue porn shop.
Mr. Biggs, a bar on 10th Avenue, applied to open a new location that would replace Vishara Video, a porn shop at 797 Eighth Ave., but the board rejected the plan.
At the monthly full board meeting, members refused to recommend the license to the State Liquor Authority despite testimony of devoted bar patrons who said Mr. Biggs management make good neighbors.
The bar owners plan to open a two-floor bar with dancing and DJs at the location, they said in their application.
Mr. Biggs regular Jackie Stevens said the bar owners keep a safe environment, which she said is a great place for “a woman that’s a certain age.” And longtime Hell’s Kitchen resident Kathleen Treat said the bar would be better than the Vishara Video store currently in the space.
But members went against the committee recommendation and came out against the idea, citing noise concerns and a multitude of bars already in the area. The State Liquor Authority has the final say, but weighs community board recommendations in licensing decisions.
Mickey Spillane, co-owner of Mr. Biggs, said he had collected 400 signatures from neighborhood supporters and had the block association behind his efforts. Spillane said locals opposed to the change didn't see the long view of the neighborhood.
"He talks about it like it was Green Acres," he said of one community board member who said he had lived in the neighborhood for 35 years. "I have lived in the neighborhood for six generations."
Management at Vishara Video said they had been in the neighborhood for over a decade and had no plans to leave, though they are on a series of three-month lease extensions.
“I don’t do anything, I don’t harm anyone,” manager Sonny told DNAinfo. “Just keep quiet and do the business.”
But he said rent was so high on the block that he doubted any small business could make ends meet. “If a bank comes, they can pay,” he said.
