Police Close Spirit Nightclub For Drug, Alcohol Violations

[Guest dafleur]

Police close Spirit nightclub for drug, alcohol violations

Associated Press

Saturday Aug 26, 2006

A nightclub on a Manhattan stretch popular with the gay community has been closed by authorities for repeated alcohol and drug violations, police said.

Acting on a court order, police said they closed Spirit nightclub Friday evening at about 10 p.m. The shutdown came midway through the all-male revue "Hunk-O-Mania," according to a schedule posted on Citysearch.

The venue is on the same block in western Chelsea as the nightclub Guest House - where a New Jersey teenager went drinking and partying last month before she was beaten and strangled. The death of 18-year-old Jennifer Moore has heightened concerns about underage drinking and safety in the area.

Police have said that the block, 27th Street between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, houses a complex of clubs that has become a magnet for drug-dealing, assaults and robberies.

Spirit had been under observation by the New York Police Department since it was closed for about a week in March for drug incidents and underage drinking, police said. Since then, police say they have observed marijuana being smoked openly in the club, and they have seen alcohol sold to underage patrons.

Authorities have also made four arrests for the use and sale of cocaine and ecstasy, police said.

The NYPD requested the club’s closure for the repeated violations, and the venue was to remain shuttered pending a court hearing, police said.

A message left on the club’s answering machine was not immediately returned early Saturday.

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