Monday, April 21, 2014

Avenue C 'residents with children' not happy with Babel Lounge



We spotted this sign on Saturday over at Babel Lounge and Hookah Bar on Avenue C near east Eighth Street…



"Your club will be shut down if you continue to disturb the peace of this neighborhood."

Signed,
Ave. C residents with children

Babel doubled in size recently when it took over the late Duke's spot next door.

37 comments:

Anonymous said...

While, I've never had a problem with Babel, as we live on the back-side of the block. The Sunburnt Cow has been a constant shit-show of noise and obnoxiousness - pumped out of their illegal back room without a roof, for years. Good Riddance!

I AM worried about the latest incarnation of PeppeRosso/Vero/Life/Lume at the corner of AveC and E.8th - who have now installed a massive bar and have put signs calling themselves an "epicurean drinkery"

Does anyone know if it's legal or possible to flip a restaurant liquor license into a bar without ANY Public hearing?

Anonymous said...

Between C-Squat and Residents w/Children, that's a tough stretch for bars!

Anonymous said...

I say, if you can't take loud noise, don't live in Manhattan. Perhaps their whitebread lifestyles would be better accomodated in Queens.

nygrump said...

I agree with Anon 9:00 - drug users and their selfish degenerate needs should ALWAYS come first before children or citizens.

blueglass said...

anonymous, people like you are a big part of the party and f++k your neighbors attitude that is turning this once diverse residential neighborhood into a zoo playground for the tween mentality.
Anonymous said... "I say, if you can't take loud noise, don't live in Manhattan. Perhaps their whitebread lifestyles would be better accomodated in Queens."

You would be better accommodated in a zoo.

Anonymous said...

@Annon 9:00
I moved into the EV in 1981 and it was a quiet place to live then until about 5-6 years ago. Sure there were bars but they were mostly dive bars which were not overstuffed with college kids getting piss drunk and screaming on the streets afterwards. I went to clubs a few nights per week and when I was heading home the streets were empty and quiet. The fallacy that Manhattan is this loud, party like its spring break place is something clueless people believe. The "city that never sleeps" does not mean we cannot not sleep because there's too much noise it means there are things to do and many places open 24 hours.

Anonymous said...

You wouldn't make such a dismissive comment if you'd suffered from noise -- especially when it seems preventable with a little thought and caring by a resto/bar proprietor. It's not "whitebread" to want a few hours of rest and peace. It's human.

Anonymous said...

Hey 9:00, this is a residential neighborhood, asshat.

Anonymous said...

Wait, pasty college/finance n00b bros and broettes getting shitty and loud in that way that only entitled-ass young idiots can be loud is not a part of the whitebread lifestyle now?

Anonymous said...

You liberals are priceless, now you have to be the "right" color, "right" being anything other than white, to be justified in getting pissed off at the obscene racket that is the new norm here in the EV?

Anonymous said...

I'm confused.

What child would be 1. awake and 2. outside of the house the hours this place is open for him/her to be disturbed or physically threatened by this place?

'Say you put your child to bed at 9pm and he/she is out like a light by 9:30pm at the latest. Let's cut the shit: most of the yelling and noise happens 11pm on. I seriously doubt it would wake a kid 2.5-5.5 hours into sleep (assuming the noise occurs 12-3am.) And say a kid woke up at 2am - who's to say the noise from this place was the cause? Say it was the cause. Boo hoo. It's New York, the capital of 24-7-365 noise. Betcha car alarms going off and not being shut off wake wayyyy more people than a y/h/growling bro.

D

Anonymous said...

It is crazy that people on AVENUE C are saying this!

Avenue C is supposed to be full of bars & clubs. Not that long ago it was full of afterhours, burned out cars/buildings, gangs and sketchy spanish junkies. Children aren't really supposed to be there. It was one of the most dangerous and scary places in the city. Such a shame that the real estate market, the city, and families have cleaned it up to such a degree that even modest, boring (and fairly quiet) businesses like Babel can't easily exist there.

Anonymous said...

The East Village was party town until you wankers moved in to OUR neighborhood and raised the prices. GO BACK TO THE SUBURBS WHERE YOU BELONG IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT

Anonymous said...

"I say, if you can't take loud noise, don't live in Manhattan. Perhaps their whitebread lifestyles would be better accomodated in Queens."

Please, do us all a favor, go back to Ohio or Wisconsin. You have no concept that the East Village isn't even the East Village at all, but ALPHABET CITY, and at one time this was a quiet neighborhood at night without you and your friends WOO-ing and vomiting in front of our doorsteps.

bowboy said...

@12:36p and 1:18p
Sooooo many assumptions that are just not given facts. "seriously doubt", "the capital of noise", "supposed to be". Talk about making up BS. wow. Boogles the mind.

Anonymous said...

20 years of pretty solid drinking down here in all the usual suspect places, yet I never once had the urge to yell out woooo at the top of my lungs as I left the bar at 3 in the morning.
Of course it might have had something to do with wanting to maintain a low profile re: the assorted drugs I usually had stashed.

Anonymous said...

@anon7:26
It was Pepe Rosso then Cafe Cotto turned Verso. Cafe Cotto was upgraded to a full liquor with the support of residents. Check Community Board 3 website meeting and vote records March 2011, corporate name Pastabar Cafe Corp.
The resolution states that they must operate as a full service restaurant and reduce their bar to create additional room for the restaurant.
No it is not legal to flip to a bar if it is a restaurant without a hearing. They can do a corporate change which I guess they did with Life/Lume. The new establishment has to take on the hours and stipulations of prior restaurant. This massive bar sounds illegal. Take pictures of bar and sign that says "epicurean drinkery" and send them to District Manager Susan Stetzer at CB 3 for immediately. Reach out to Carolyn Ratcliffe. She originally supported their upgrade as a restaurant only, but you see that even Cafe Cotto became a more expensive Verso. I am sure she will not be happy about this.
Babel complaints or any 311 complaints must be sent to Community Board 3. Call 311 get the complaint number and send it to CB 3 via their website. The complaint will not be recognized at CB 3 if you just call 311 without sending the number to CB 3. In addition take photos and videos and send to CB 3. Any questions contact CB office for information.
The Sunburnt Cow. Are they out? Anyway, no liquor license at all, not even beer or wine, no restaurant should be allowed there in the future. The fact that every storefront on that side has a liquor license is illegal and you can fight it.
Reach out to the activists near 62 Avenue C. They have done an incridable job and have alot of information.
Save our village. Class and retail diversity. No more lux housing no more bars.

Annoyedlessider said...

Shut it down and starting shutting all bars at least 2am if not 1am!

Anonymous said...

Anyone complaining about this club should get out of the neighborhood. Chances are you weren't born or grew up in Loisaida, and if it was the way it was (and should still be) you (and your precious "children") wouldn't survive a one block walk. My suggestion is that you go back to whatever flyover state you originated from and leave our city alone.

Anonymous said...

@Anonymous 4:41 pm. Your comment is perhaps the most a**inine thing I have read on the blogs in a longtime. I will give you the benefit of the doubt and say your parents might have been born in Loisada, but most likely not your grandparents. Loisada was called something else before it was Loisada and before you were born and raised here. Life in the neighborhood didn't begin when you arrived and won't end when you leave. If you think Babel and the rest of what has happened on Avenue C is good for the people who live here, those who have lived here a long-time and those who live here now, then something is really wrong with your mind - perhaps too much of the stuff you miss from the old days.

Anonymous said...

If you have a job, are unemployed, have children, don't have children, like 8 hours sleep, 7 hours sleep or an insomniac chances are you don't enjoy drunks yelling, vomiting and trash the sidewalk outside your apartment at night. How such bad, selfish, asshole behavior can be considered: cool or an important part of the neighborhoods "identity" is beyond me.

Anonymous said...

I have lived in the area for 20 years... These places are made for the transient scum which spends a few hours a week here to vomit in the street... not the people who live here...

Anonymous said...

I wish the cops would start writing tickets on the streets for drunk and disorderly conduct. Maybe these kids will learn how to behave in public. Why is that not happening? Seems like easy revenue for the city and a fairly easy solution. The bars can only monitor what happens while the patrons are inside and immediately outside the door--not what happens when the patrons are bouncing from place to place and squealing at the top of their little smug pig lungs.

Piccolo Posro said...

Wow... You all must be very bored...Lumé will operate as a full restaurant ( the owner )

CurmudgeonNYC said...

There seems to be one question that's being overlooked:

Who the fuck would raise kids in the East Village and expect it to be a quiet kid-friendly nabe?

Seriously, do they move downtown for the great schools? Or because the Realtor told you you could get in on the ground floor of a rapidly changing neighborhood?

In any case. This nonsense that people with whelps deserve some special entitlement has got to stop. Your little ones are a burden to your neighbors and to society, so you really have no business making demands.

RyanAvenueA said...

@CurmudgeonNYC. How exactly are kids a burden to our neighbors and society? People in our neighborhood reproduce, and some of us do it in the hopes of not raising future assholes.

Anonymous said...

@CurmudgeonNYC
Wow, chill. Not everyone with a child moved to the EV the way you claim. Children are people too, if anything some people with dogs act like their dog can shit and piss anywhere and everywhere. Try planting flowers around a tree and watch a dozen dog owners direct their mutts into the area for a good dump. At least little kids wear diapers.

Anonymous said...

People really have to calm down with saying that children can't be raised properly in this neighborhood. I was born and raised here (now 23). My father was born and raised here (now 57).
I'm not a fan of Babel or any other Bar/Lounge/Hangout around here. I don't drink alcohol. I don't do drugs. Me and my brothers have all graduated from college.
Bars should respect noise regulations and people should know that they are allowed to call the police for complaints about noise (not just 311).

Anonymous said...

CurmudgeonNYC, Have you read this article?

Unknown said...

Lets not!!

Anonymous said...

Heheheheheh! I have to agree with curmudgeon--everyone thinks they're kids are so precious but they're plenty noisey and annoying too. I'm gonna start calling 311 on my neighbor's screaming brat. It's affecting my peaceful existence. Oh wait--that's ridiculous, isn't it? But it illustrates the point that no one is entitled to anything when living in a giant city on top of one another. It's a suburban expectation. It can be kept in check to some degree (and there are laws in place to do that). But leaving passive aggressive notes is pretty lame. A more productive and community driven approach would be to arrange to speak to the manager and explain your concerns. Are the windows being left open too late? Is it the noise on the sidewalk at night? Is it the bass coming from the music? These are all things that can be easily remedied when respectfully brought to an establishment's attention.

nygrump said...

Noise pollution is a toxin, and the technology driven plague of noise pollution now is deadly. if noise intrusion was taken as seriously here as it is in the UK, we wouldn't even have this conversation, but because you can't see it, people won't treat it the same as having a sewer pipe burst. the affect to the inhabitants is equally negative. Noise pollution causes mental illness, my posts are living proof having to put up with endless noise from Spice Cove. DEP inspection tonite.

Unknown said...

Dear neighbors,

It came to our attention that someone has a complaint about the noise. We sincerely apologize for that ... We've been always responsible and supportive to the community that we are part of and disturbing it is the last thing we want to do. We have invested in a full sound proof system which cost us significant amount of money; also more sound proofing material was added to few spots that we discovered that wasn't isolated the right way few weeks ago when we had a complaint. We worked closely with our neighbor and solved the problem.. But please specify the noise complain, whether it's customers in the front or music, also your apartment # so we can solve it as we did with the other neighbor and we promise to solve the issue with your cooperation. Please contact us at 2125053468 anytime or via email at info@babelnyc.com.

Your cooperation is appreciated
Your Neighbors
@ Babel

Anonymous said...

@Anonymous 4:03pm - Have you ever tried to talk to someone at a place like Babel or the Sunburnt Cow and ask them to turn down the music or close the window? Well I have on numerous occasions with the bar I was dealing with and I was met with open hostility. screamed at, cursed at and threatened. What makes you thik the person who left the note had not exhausted that option? Why should the burden fall to residents to ask operators to treat their neighbors with respect? If they follow the stipulations they agreed to as part of securing their license, then a big chunk of these problems would go away, but guess what they don't because they need to do evertyhing possible to get as much cash out of their property as possible. I just wish that all the folks telling those of us riasing concerns about the saturation of bars, lounges and restaurants in this neighborhood have one of them open on the ground floor of their apartment building, have a sidewalk cafe and use the rear yard - then they will sing a new song or perhaps just pack up and move to the next trendy hood they read about in Time-Out Magazine.

Thomas Jacobs said...

Yes, calling your neighbors "bored" because they are concerned about the growth it rowdy drinking establishments in an already over-saturated block, is just ignorant. You might want to rethink this kind of public engagement if you are at all sincere about running responsible neighborhood restaurant.

Anonymous said...

It's just too damn much on Avenue C. Residents need to take control of the situation. The East Village shouldn't have to be a dumping ground for tourists, frat douche and celebrities and other jerks who have money to burn on high end food and cocktails. These restaurants and lounges are audacious and greedy. Many of them have open facades and outside seating, noise and people spill out onto sidewalk. Shut the windows. One is never enough. Did Edi & The Wolf really have to open this high folutin lounge The Third Man. The Wayland, Zum Schneider, Babel. No respect.

Children have always been part of east village culture.

CurmudgeonNYC said...

Thanks to Anon for calling me a troll, but in fact, the child-owners are the trolls in this case.
If a rowdy bar moved into a residential nabe, obviously that would be wrong, and the locals would be right to complain.

But when child-owners invade a nabe, they have an obligation to respect the local culture and environment and not demand special privileges.