NEWS
By Brent Jones | October 31, 2009
Baltimore's liquor board has revoked the license of a Fells Point bar after police were called several times this spring to break up fights at the club, according to the panel's chairman. Cheerleaders, in the 700 block of S. Broadway, was also raided in the summer by federal authorities searching for four high-powered handguns that police said had been bought by the club's owner. Liquor commissioners said Thursday that they stripped the bar of its license after a series of attacks inside the club.
NEWS
October 28, 2009
Name a city that doesn't boast a vibrant and varied night life, and we'll show you a place that is probably very dull indeed. When work is done and people flock to their favorite restaurants and bars to meet and greet, they want a range of entertainment to grease the social whirl. That's why the Baltimore City Council took an important step Monday when it overturned a decades-old restriction on live music and other entertainment in bars and restaurants in some of the city's trendiest neighborhoods.
NEWS
By Brent Jones | October 24, 2009
The city liquor board suspended the liquor license of a restaurant in Mount Vernon's historic Belvedere Hotel for 60 days on Thursday night after the bar was found guilty of serving customers after hours twice in an eight-month span. Red Square, located in the first block of E. Chase St., was also fined $2,250 for allowing patrons to drink after 2 a.m. and not serving food with the alcohol, according to the chairman of the liquor board. But charges that the restaurant had violated an agreement with the Mount Vernon community, which could have led to a revocation of its license, were dismissed.
NEWS
By Peter Hermann | October 21, 2009
Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III is seeking to padlock Suite Ultralounge, a troubled nightclub in the basement of the historic Belvedere Hotel, calling it a public nuisance and linking it to a spate of shootings and other crime over the past year. "The violence that took place is no secret to anybody," police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. "It's been on our naughty list for some time." The move comes two months after a Circuit Court judge overturned a liquor board decision from last year ordering the club's license revoked, saying newly devised rules governing so-called bottle clubs, in which patrons bring their own alcohol, needed to be clarified and revised.
NEWS
By Brent Jones | October 12, 2009
When Baltimore's liquor board commissioners were sworn into office in April 2007, they took over an agency reeling from threats, lawsuits and internal backbiting. Charged by Gov. Martin O'Malley with restoring public trust, the three-member panel has virtually cut out the infighting. But some observers argue that the commissioners have also taken a heavy-handed approach to their oversight responsibilities, dishing out substantial fines and suspensions and revoking more licenses than is necessary.
NEWS
By Brent Jones | September 25, 2009
Baltimore's liquor board suspended for six months the license for Stagedoor, a strip club on The Block, after inspectors testified that they spotted a dancer holding a used condom while giving a man a lap dance. The board also found Stagedoor guilty of allowing minors to possess alcohol at the club during the same July 11 visit by inspectors. Four youths ages 17 to 19 were allowed in and seen with alcohol. The suspension was the third substantial penalty levied by the liquor board in the past four weeks, after a six-month suspension of a Mexican restaurant's liquor license and the revocation of a Canton club's license.
NEWS
By Brent Jones | September 12, 2009
The Baltimore liquor board revoked the liquor license of a Canton club Thursday night after the owner of the business violated terms of an agreement reached with community leaders, according to the board's chairman. Phantom, a dance club that opened in December in the 2300 block of Boston St., will no longer be allowed to serve alcohol, and the license will be transferred to a creditor pending a new buyer. The license was awarded to owner Shane Anderson last year with several conditions, according to the liquor board.
NEWS
By Brent Jones | September 5, 2009
Baltimore's liquor board suspended the license of a Mexican restaurant in Greektown for six months Thursday, citing public urination outside the bar and a general lack of control by the owners. During the two-hour hearing, a liquor board inspector said he was standing outside Aztec de Oro, in the 4900 block of Eastern Ave., Aug. 7 and watched customers leave with open containers of beer. The inspector said several customers urinated in the open, including in the parking lot of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, according to liquor board Chairman Stephan Fogleman.
NEWS
August 26, 2009
A lively night life and after-hours scene are indispensable to city living. But the charm fades quickly when it's accompanied by gunfire. Since last year, residents of Mount Vernon and Mid-Town have been trying to rid their neighborhood of Suite Ultralounge, a bottle club located in the basement of the Belvedere Hotel that has been linked to a string of shootings, robberies and assaults in the area. But on Monday, a city court judge ruled that the club can remain open - at least for now - despite a nearly yearlong effort by the city liquor board to shut it down.
NEWS
By Sam Sessa and Julie Bykowicz | August 25, 2009
A Baltimore judge has ruled that the city liquor board acted improperly last year when it tried to shut down Suite Ultralounge, a "bottle club" in the Belvedere Hotel that sometimes draws a violent crowd and has long been at odds with its Mount Vernon neighbors. In a Baltimore Circuit Court ruling filed Aug. 19 and released Monday, Judge Kaye Allison wrote that the liquor board must first establish rules about when to revoke the license of a bottle club before trying to close the Ultralounge.