Troubled Allentown after-hours club denied liquor license

An Allentown after-hours club with a history of nuisance complaints was recently denied a liquor license, which would have allowed it to change its operating hours and function as a bar.The owners of The View, on the fifth floor of the Hamilton Business Center at 11th and Hamilton streets, had filed for the transfer of a liquor license in April 2018, months after the city attempted to shut down the club following a number of violations for noise and disorderly conduct offenses in the summer of 2017.Basing its decision off evidence presented at a hearing held in December, the state Liquor Control Board denied the license on April 17.At the hearing, a handful of residents and business owners testified that they’ve been tormented by loud music and drunk and disorderly behavior coming from the after-hours club.Councilwoman Candida Affa also protested the club obtaining a license and Allentown Police Capt. Charles Roca testified about repeated police calls there. Roca said that from 2016 to October 2018, police were called there 28 times for incidents that included noise complaints, shots fired , drunkenness, vandalism and fights.Efforts to shut down the club were revived in the fall, when an Oct. 21 video that went viral captured an incident in which the club’s head of security was seen knocking out a patron, leaving the man with serious head and facial injuries. The head of security now faces charges.Months before the assault, police were called to a shooting outside the club that left one man injured, and a year earlier, the club owners and a bartender were cited for selling bottles of Hennessy cognac without a license.Because the club operated under a license for a restaurant and dance club, it cannot legally serve alcohol.According to Theodore Zeller III, the attorney handling the club’s application, club owner Eddy Pacheco was hoping to change The View’s image and operating hours by obtaining a liquor license. That would mean it would be regulated by the Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement, which conducts regular inspections for violations of the state’s liquor code. Having a liquor license would also mean the club would have to close at 2 a.m., and everyone would have to leave by 2:30 a.m.Zeller did not return calls seeking comment about the future of the club.According to its Facebook page, The View appears to continue operating as an after-hours establishment. An event planned for Friday advertises specials for Dominican dishes and free entry and hookah during certain hours.Manuel Gamiz Jr. can be reached at 610-820-6595 or at mgamiz@mcall.com.
Source: Morningcall