Liquor License

Sparked by complaints from politicians and neighborhood residents, the city liquor board suspended the liquor license of a Northeast Baltimore nightspot and set a 90-day deadline for the transfer of the license to a new location. The board's action was the climax of a long-standing battle neighborhood residents waged against the Cameo Restaurant in the 4700 block of Harford Road. Neighbors complained for years about the bar's loud music and its patrons, who blocked driveways and urinated in the streets.

In a series of decisions last week, the Howard County Alcoholic Beverage Hearing Board refused to grant a liquor license for a proposed liquor store in the Deep Run community near Columbia, but approved one for a restaurant in Oakland Mills.In a third decision, the board fined operators of Ellicott City's Millwood Tavern, in the 3700 block Old Columbia Pike, $300 for allowing employees to drink on the premises after closing the night of Jan. 10.The board denied a license for a liquor store proposed for the 6500 block Old Waterloo Road off Route 108. Protesters, including competitors in the area, had complained that another liquor store in the Lark Brown shopping center isn't needed, especially since existing stores are doing poorly.

The owners of Bohager's Bar & Grill said yesterday that they will relocate the popular Fells Point megabar to another establishment two blocks away where it plans a $3 million renovation that includes a concert hall for national music acts.Bohager's, at 515 S. Eden St., will close May 30 and reopen June 2 at 701 S. Eden St., which was formerly occupied by Parrot Island, an open-air bar and restaurant that opened in 1995, said Damian Bohager.He would not disclose the purchase price of the Parrot Island property.

After a summer's layoff, a panel of business leaders and lawmakers is hoping to resolve a sensitive economic development issue: a proposed change in the Anne Arundel County liquor laws that would clear the way for restaurant chains.Current laws allowing only one liquor license per restaurant -- no matter how many locations the restaurant has -- are strangling development in fast-growing parts of the county, some lawmakers argue. But small-business owners fear large corporations and chains will cut into their profits and drive them out of business.

Late last year the Federal Hill noodle shop Tenosix (1006 Light St.) closed. It reopened a couple of weeks ago as a fine dining restaurant with the same name but a new owner and chef.Several readers have called raving about the food. Thomas Chungsakoon was executive chef at Suburban Country Club for 10 years, with his wife, Penny, as his sous chef. The pair is now in the tiny kitchen of the newly renovated Tenosix, turning out gourmet meals. Don't be surprised, for instance, to find steak with foie gras on the menu.

The Carroll County Board of License Commissioners has approved a request for a transfer of a liquor license for Paddock Wine and Spirit Shop in Woodbine.Thomas B. Scott, James C. Arnold and Mark E. Niederhauser requested the transfer of the Class A Beer, Wine and Liquor license from Raymond A. Larue.Niederhauser will be general manager of the store, which has been at 7627 Woodbine Road for 23 years. Scott and Arnold are new to the business.

A long dispute over a Perry Hall diner's liquor license application ended in compromise yesterday, when the restaurant's neighbors agreed to drop their opposition in exchange for a limit on alcohol sales.Two years after it noted community opposition in rejecting the Double-T Diner's license application, the Baltimore County liquor board unanimously voted to allow the diner to sell beer and wine -- but not liquor.The board's action also restricts the hours that alcohol can be sold, and forbids the restaurant from selling carryout alcohol or operating a bar separate from its sit-down dining areas.

State legislators are scrutinizing liquor laws and talking with business leaders hoping to find a way to hand out multiple licenses to some establishments in Anne Arundel County.Currently, a restaurant with a license to serve drinks in, for example, Parole, may not get a license to sell alcohol at a second restaurant in the northern part of the county around Baltimore-Washington International Airport.A new study group, headed by Dels. John Leopold and Theodore Sophocleus, could help restaurant chains that want to do business at several places in the county and spur development in areas such as near the airport eager for new businesses.

The city liquor board suspended yesterday the liquor license of the Circus Bar on Baltimore's notorious Block because of narcotics violations.The Board of Liquor License Commissioners ordered Shelley and Jules Gordon, the owners of the Circus Bar in the 400 block of E. Baltimore St., to sell the establishment's liquor license in 90 days.The Gordons may keep their adult entertainment license and remain in business.But they may not sell liquor, effectively immediately, the board said.The board's action came after more than a year of police surveillance during which videotapes were compiled showing the Circus Bar's former doorman, Harry Miller, engaged in several sales of cocaine.

For more than two years, residents of the 2400 block of Southeast Baltimore's Fleet St. have been engaged in a bar fight.They consider Canton's Ocean View Inn a neighborhood nuisance, with numbingly loud music and patrons who stagger up what had been a quiet block where model sailing ships and statues of Mary dot windowsills.Ocean View Inn owners counter that the collection of NIMBY-ers who have taken petitions to the state's Board of Liquor License Commissioners for Baltimore City and elicited support from local government officials is out to shut them down.

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.

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.

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.

Thursday's 1 p.m. docket for the regular meeting of Baltimore's Board of Liquor License Commissioners contained a who's who of venerable Inner Harbor restaurants, including one that has occupied the same spot since the waterfront became a tourist attraction in the early 1980s. The board's 3 p.m. docket contained a who's who of venerable strip clubs on The Block, one with a liquor license that dates to at least 1950, and others that have occupied the same spots on East Baltimore Street under one name or another on the famed burlesque strip that dates back to the Roaring '20s.

Clubs, store penalized for underage drinking The city liquor board penalized three strip clubs Thursday on The Block for underage drinking and indefinitely suspended the license of a West Baltimore liquor store for repeatedly selling alcohol to minors. Mouse Trap II, at 406 E. Baltimore St., and Plaza Saloon, at 404 E. Baltimore St., were both fined $3,000, while Circus Bar, at 427 E. Baltimore St., was fined $500. Liquor board commissioners also ordered the owner of Wonderland Discount Liquors, in the 2000 block of Pennsylvania Ave., to sell its liquor license within six months.

The Annapolis liquor board revoked the late-night liquor license of a popular crab house near the City Dock at a hearing Friday, but it issued a new license that will enable the restaurant to serve alcohol until midnight. The board ruled that Buddy's Crabs & Ribs, which has been open for more than 20 years, had not been eligible for the old license, which it had held since 1993. "It's going to affect our revenue," said Kevin Blonder, one of the owners of the family business. "Most of the people who come in for crabs come in late night."

Seeking to prevent a 24-hour 7-Eleven store from opening near the Washington Monument in Mount Vernon, Baltimore City Councilman William H. Cole IV introduced a bill yesterday that would restrict the operating hours of any convenience store in the historic district. "A 24-hour location in that area is not going to help the community at all," he said. "Everything to me says this is not going to be a good fit." He said he's troubled by the late-night crowds drawn to a 7-Eleven in Federal Hill and would rather see the Mount Vernon building remain vacant than allow the store.

To cheers and chants of "Burn baby, burn!" church and community leaders in East Baltimore's resurgent Oliver neighborhood put barbecue lighters yesterday to a photo enlargement of a liquor license they purchased and retired in their drive to rid the area of crime and blight. "From the ashes will rise new homes, and from the homes will rise new families," said the Rev. Calvin Keene, pastor of Memorial Baptist Church, in a sidewalk prayer offered with neighbors and church members after the symbolic immolation.

City liquor board revokes permits of store, bar 2 The city liquor board revoked the license this week of a Park Heights store owner after finding him guilty of selling alcohol to a minor for the fourth time in three years. Jong Sub Park, owner of J&J Discount Liquors in the 5100 block of Park Heights Ave., has 180 days to sell his liquor license, according to liquor board Chairman Stephan Fogleman. Liquor board commissioners also reached an agreement with the owners of Club Mate, a Brooklyn bar that residents and police say is the site of gang activity, to sell the liquor license in the next 60 days.

Korean-Americans protested yesterday a city public nuisance law they feel unfairly targets their businesses, as a judge told the liquor board to review a case involving the first store closed by the rule. In April, the city liquor board decided not to renew the license of Linden Bar and Liquors, in the 900 block of W. North Ave., after hearing community concerns over criminal activity in and around the business, including a homicide inside the store. Yesterday, because of a procedural matter, a Baltimore Circuit Court judge instructed the board to review its decision not to renew Chang K. Yim's tavern license.