I was curious if that was permanent. This sign now greets potential Le Soukers.
I asked Stacie, a resident who has lived nearby for a lot longer than the eight years that Le Souk has been around, for her take:
Yep -- it's closed. No dining, no drinking, no dancing, no parties. No bouncers, no crowds, no fights. No honking, no puking, no throbbing (music), no nothing.
With Le Souk's departure and the closure of Layaly, only one Hookah bar, the Horus Cafe, remains along the Avenue B corridor...
14 comments:
Where o where will the insipid euro trash go?
Forgive me if I'm wrong but isn't LeSouk a Mom & Pop shop that has been put out of business by people complaining everyday about the noise and their over crowding?
Are we mourning the loss or congratulating the NIMBYs who blocked them from doing business.
It seems like we are picking to mourn the Mom & Pops that we knew from years ago and celebrating the new Mom & Pops demise.
Can we have it both ways?
Another one bites the dust! Another business has folded on Ave. B...now it's becoming a Avenue of empty store fronts. It's beginning to look like a street in the Midwest...boarded up with for old and worn rent signs on the front windows. Plus all the business that reaped the benefits of the late night crowd.
Get over it, the world turns and with it change comes. The only thing that's constant is change and Ave. B will either go with the times or become a place where no Mom & Pop business can last. There is nothing good, hip, or intelligent about causing someone's business to close, just because you have no life and have nothing better to do in your life.
First Le souk has been on Ave B more than 8 yrs. (get your facts straight bro the club has been there since 1999)
This place has been closed by several parties (no pun intended).
1 The peeps who moved in years after Le Souk and several other biz wrestled the area away from the crime that kept these same people hiding in there safe hoods.
2 The Neo fascist LOCAL and NYC administration, that is more intent on trying to facilitate/negotiate mutli-billion dollar deals with construction developers than creating programs to help build and sustain small businesses.
This seems to me an amazing situation in the current economic climate. To crush any kinda business, let alone one that brings thousands of dollars a day to the local economy. Call me silly or irresponsible but it just seems like an absurd maneuver to me.
Agree with you, anon. Why all the haters? This neighborhood was nothing before Le Souk arrived. You will regret your petty 311 calls and waa-waaing baby talk to the community board when the rats and drugheads take over. You will beg us to return. Guess we will be giving our money now to the good people on La Guardia Place, home of the Le Souk Harem. I hope they will appreciate all that Le Souk regulars have to offer a neighborhood.
It seems terribly shortsighted that folks are so ignorant of each others points of view. The residents who live in the area do have a point, it is not pleasant to have to deal with loud fights, music, general rowdiness under ones window late at night. It's shortsighted to feel that they complain because they have no lives. Their complaints are not at people having a good time - it's complaints against needless disruption. There were many afterhours places in the area for years which operated without being a nuisance to the surrounding residents. They were soundproofed, kept patrons from gathering outside and making noise and generally took responsibility for keeping decorum in the surrounding area - if you were unruly/disruptive you were simply not allowed in. In fact unless you were in the know you could walk past them and never know that people were partying away inside. Business owners took care to make sure that people could still have their fun (in any capcity) without being interrupted by police and the neighbours could sleep/chill in their homes without being disrupted. All in all a happy medium.
It's very arrogant to feel that just because someone wants to go out get really drunk and be loud and obnoxious that it's okay to be a disturbance to others and that residence ought to be "grateful" for you coming and bringing revenue into the neighborhood - because of course it was rat and drug infested before, right? And was "nothing" before you came spending your money, right? Unfortunately this is the mentality that is causing clubs and bars to experience difficulty when it comes to getting liquor licenses.
To take the stance that ones own choice of nightlife should take precedence over anyone's quality of life is just wrong. Live and let live. If patrons could remember this then residents would lighten up. Think about it - what if someone came and made noise of their choosing when you wanted to sleep under your window? Some of you might say you wouldn't care but you would. You have the right to have fun but not to encroach upon others quality of life and this has become more of a problem. Basic respect goes a long long way. By being respectful businesses would then have a better defense against troublesome residents (the ones who needlessly complain just because people are enjoying themselves) yes they are out there and the same goes for them - they do not have the right to encroach upon people having fun - just because they are not. But these complainers should never be lumped with residents who have legitimate complaints. Business owners, residents and patrons should all cooperate with each other so everyone is happy. It is possible but, not as long as each side takes the stance of not dealing with the real issue and being insensitive to each others points. I love going out at night and always have but I have to admit the arrogant rowdy behavior is a turn off so I see both sides of the argument. Spending money in a club doesn't mean you get the right to raze the neighborhood it's situated in and piss off it's residents.
It's petty and shortsighted to say complaining residents are haters, grow up. And contrary to your opinion no residents will be begging you to return and it should be noted that the only thing Le Souk regulars offered the residents in the neighborhood was annoyance (by regulars I'm guessing you mean people who share your arrogance and shortsightedness). I used to love Le Souk and went there all the time but stopped going because of people with your mentality and unfortunately that seemed to be the start Le Souk's problems with surrounding residents. Maybe if you actually knew the neighborhood - rather than seeing it as a playground you'd find that most residents "preferred" it when it was drug infested as it had way more character and diversity and was virtually free of assholes. Take a minute to think about that. Maybe learning to exist side by side with residents in NYC will help prevent another venue being closed down.
To quote Stacie, "Yep -- it's closed. No dining, no drinking, no dancing, no parties. No bouncers, no crowds, no fights. No honking, no puking, no throbbing (music), no nothing."
No nothing seems to be what you are after. Why?
knowing the person who complained all the time, it was not a quality of llife issue, it was a NO LIFE ISSUE on their part. I think they would prefer a wig store to open up accross the street.
It's worth noting that -- neighbor complaints notwithstanding -- Le Souk's liquor license was terminated by the SLA because the club failed to operate in compliance with applicable laws, not because residents had issues with it. Surely the complaint history did not help, but this termination was about more than noise complaints, and it went through the court system.
For all of the talk about the negative impact on businesses, why did local business owners not show up en masse to speak on behalf of Le Souk at community board meetings, if this one particular club was truly that important? Closing Le Souk does not represent a fast track back to 1980. Countless nightlife spots in the East Village operate successfully as good neighbors and no one has less fun as a result.
If you don't want to live on a street or ave. that has businesses, perhaps moving out of the city would be best for you. The city is alive and people go out and night life abounds.
The lower east side rears it's ugly head each time Le Souk closes. Maybe they could have done something so as not to disturb the neighbors, but I don't know the whole story. What I do know is that the area becomes dangerous, with drug dealers, gangs, criminals, I'm afraid to walk down the street after dark alone. What a shame, these neighbors must like what crawls in to replace Le Souk. They can't be street smart, or they'd move, Le Souk made the LES upscale, happening, now it's just another bad neighborhood:(
You guys don't understand. We don't care, as neighbors, what Le Souk does to bring in business and keep the party going all night. But when patrons leave the club, they need to shut up, stop yelling and fighting and puking on the street like this is a 3rd world country. They paid enough to be there... they can yell their heads off inside, or get semi-quietly into a car and go to whatever hotel they came from.
They can't just stand out on the street under our houses and drunkenly yell all night. I bet many of you live on the top floors or backsides of some very cool apartments. I am young and rent so the "take-over" of the neighborhood theory is bull.
There are plenty of "upscale" businesses on the block that keep the "dangerous" element out. Do your homework. Kate's Joint, Croxley's, Poco, La Cordita, clubs, bars etc that have patrons respectful of sleeping neighbors at 3:30 in the morning when they leave.
There are alway exceptions, but Le Souk was out of control. That is why they are the only place that was closed down. B is still "Best" if you'd care to join us!
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