LOWER EAST SIDE — Complaints from nearby residents and a history of violations convinced Community Board 3’s liquor license committee to vote against a longtime nightclub’s liquor license renewal.
Members of CB3’s SLA committee voted against Fat Baby’s liquor license application, which was up for renewal, at their monthly meeting Monday night in the community board’s office on East Fourth Street, citing the bar’s troubled history.
The Rivington Street bar was authorized to operate as a lounge serving "unique" food without dancing, scheduled performances, covers or live music when it first received its liquor license in 2005, committee members and Fat Baby opponents said at the meeting.
However, Fat Baby moved away from that model, running a nightclub and live performance venue instead, they said.
Fat Baby has also received numerous complaints from neighbors as well as a violation by the Department of Buildings for operating without a cabaret license, according to the committee and DOB records.
“This is has really been one of the worst operators on the Lower East Side in the past four or five years,” one resident said at the meeting, calling Fat Baby a “pox” on the block.
Fat Baby’s owners and representatives did not attend the meeting. The bar and its attorney did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Daniel Tainow, who has lived above the bar at 112 Rivington St. for seven years, also detailed recent issues he and his neighbors have faced, including the bar’s use of a side door that connects the establishment and the residents’ lobby.
“The bigger problem is that they have ejected drunk clients…out of that door and it goes directly into our stairwell,” he said. Confused patrons have passed out in the stairwell, knocked on residents’ doors in the middle of the night and woken them up by buzzing their apartments, Tainow said.
Tainow said residents have also tried to contact the owners to address their concerns but have not been able to get in touch with them.
Dozens of residents from Tainow’s building and surrounding residences signed petitions to express their opposition against the liquor license renewal, according to Tainow and the L.E.S. Dwellers, a neighborhood group that has opposed new liquor licenses in the area.
The committee voted to deny the application, saying that the State Liquor Authority should revoke Fat Baby's license or uphold its original method of operation. The SLA will ultimately decide if the license is renewed but community boards have an advisory role in the process.
Community Board 3 will vote on Fat Baby’s application at its full board meeting on Oct. 27 at P.S. 20 Anna Silver School.
