STATE LIQUOR AUTHORITY

Still reeling from the fallout of its highly publicized 2007 prostitution bust, embattled Manhattan strip club Scores West has filed for bankruptcy.

Court papers filed on Friday point to "mounting tax debt" and a "loss in sales" at the voluptuous 10,000-square-foot venue at 536 W. 28th St. "as a result of the actions by the New York State Liquor Authority proceeding against the [club] to revoke its liquor license."  read more »

Embattled Soho restaurant Lola will just have to make do without live music, the State Liquor Authority informed the eatery's owners on Thursday.

Proprietors Tom and Gayle Patrick-Odeen have said that their business—which has been the subject of a nasty, three-and-a-half-year legal dispute with neighbors, who have protested the place's right to sell booze—is "struggling" without live performances.

The couple recently told The Villager that they were "hanging on by a thread."

Live music had been a staple of the drinking and dining experience at the couple's prior location on West 22nd Street. But upon moving to the corner of Watts and Thompson streets, the duo initially applied to play background music only.

The owners insist that this was a clerical error and that the application was later "orally amended" by the SLA.  read more »

Death & Co. co-owner David Kaplan contacted me to express a few concerns about today's Observer article on him and his ongoing liquor-license saga. (Read it here.)

One of his complaints involves my use of the term "bar" to describe his business.

He prefers the term "restaurant lounge," partly because it's more accurate but, perhaps more importantly, also because saying otherwise has the potential to worsen his plight.  read more »

The Villager is reporting that Cooper Square Hotel developers Gregory Peck and Matt Moss have "finally caved" and agreed to neighbors' "tough terms for operating [the hotel's] outdoor areas."

Under the deal, outlined on local Community Board 3's Web site, the builders have agreed to restrict loiterers, taxis, and limos along East 5th Street and prohibit smoking on the hotel's second-floor terrace -- located just 30 inches from some neighbors' windows.

   read more »

Legal bills just keep piling up on Scores West boss Richard Goldring.

Both the Post and Daily News today are reporting that Francis Vargas, a former waitress at the embattled West 28th Street strip club, is suing her former supervisors for sexual harrassment.

Ms. Vargas' complaints about unwanted rump smacks and cash offers for sex comes just two months after a class-action suit filed by pole dancers who claimed that Scores management was skimming money from lapdance fees.

And the club is still battling the State Liquor Authority in order to keep its license to sell booze after several dancers were charged with prostitution last winter.

Will all the litigation finally force Mr. Goldring to sell the 10,000-square-foot stripper-plex? Stay tuned.

Embattled strip club Scores West continues to bet its future on disgraced cop Michael Oliver.

According to Thursday's Post article:  read more »