(CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — The owners of Larry’s Nightclub in Seattle have have been denied an injunction that would restore the liquor license of the Pioneer Square club.
The owners filed a lawsuit against the state Liquor Control Board, which suspended the club’s liquor license for 180 days at the request of Mayor Greg Nickels, based on the number of times police have been called to the nightspot.
Attorney’s for the club have argued that the statute allowing the suspension is unconstitutional.
“This is racially motivated, and we’re going to fight it,” Larry Culp, who along with his brother owns the club, told the Seattle Times.
Larry’s Nightclub plays mostly hip-hop music and draws a racially mixed clientele.
Violence at the club has been a recurring problem. Most recently, police responded to a report that a 40-year-old man was stabbed during a fight on New Year’s Eve. Police also said that Seattle Seahawks safety Ken Hamlin was smashed in the head with a street sign outside of Larry’s on October 17th, according to the paper.
“The main issue for the mayor in this case was stopping what clearly had become a pattern of violence at this club,” Nickels spokesman Marty McOmber told the paper.
“We’ve heard concerns from residents, businesses and other club owners. There was really no doubt in anyone’s mind that this place had become a public-safety hazard.”
David Osgood, attorney for Culp and his brother, said “incidents at Larry’s” should be understood to mean “any incident within two blocks of Larry’s that involves black people.”
“The man who claimed he was stabbed was dragged, screaming, swearing and fighting from the club. He wanted to get in and keep fighting,” Osgood told the paper, about the New Year’s Eve incident.
Despite the loss of their liquor license, Culp and his brother planned to remain open for after-hours business. –by CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
