ABSTRACT
The 1990 rezoning of the cabaret law drastically reduced the number of places where dance clubs could locate as-of-right, and tightened the terms of club operation in certain areas. Conflicts over the operation of nightlife businesses did not diminish, however; in fact, they continued to escalate. The reasons for this were multiple. First, gentrification intensified and expanded in the city. Second, new rules contained in the 1990 rezoning were not applied to pre-existing (grandfathered) dance clubs, which continued to cause trouble, in residential neighborhoods. These included a series of fatal incidents involving transactions of crack cocaine. On the other hand, dance clubs started to cluster in a few remaining as-of-right and affordable neighborhoods, especially in the West Chelsea area (located west of Chelsea in Figure 5.3). However, as West Chelsea also started to experience gentrification, this neighborhood, too, started to witness the same kinds of tussles between (new) residents and nightclubs that had been plaguing other neighborhoods. In the 1990s Manhattan also saw an acute increase in conflict over nuisance caused by nightlife businesses other than dance clubs, such as bars, restaurants and lounges. These businesses tend to move into, and cluster in, gentrifying neighborhoods as gentrification usually ushers in potential patrons for these businesses. 1 At the same time, despite opposition on behalf of residential communities to the expanding night scene in their neighborhoods, the State Liquor Authority (SLA) had been generous in approving liquor license applications for the purposes of urban growth (Ocejo 2009: 9). The night scene also witnessed an increasing presence of businesses (bars and clubs) that offered mass alcohol consumption for middle-class college crowds in their 20s seeking “nights out” with affordable drinks (ibid.: 123), which resulted in over-drinking among these demographics, as well as under-age drinking.
