Photo: QueensPost
March 7, 2014 By Christian Murray
Lucho’s Place, a Woodside-based bar/restaurant known for its transgender and transvestite clientele, is looking to relocate to another section of the neighborhood and the community board is looking to stop it.
The establishment, currently located at 38-19 69th Street, has been accused over the years of being a magnet for gay prostitution. The community board has received complaints from nearby residents who claim that the patrons of the bar leave used condoms and syringes in the street. Furthermore, the residents claim that the prostitutes make no effort to be discreet.
Patrick A. O’Brien, who oversees liquor licenses on behalf of Community Board 2, said the NYPD reported that there were about 100 prostitution arrests made within one block of Lucho’s in 2013. However, he said, there were no arrests made within the establishment.
Lucho’s, which has lost its current lease, is looking to move to 65-12 Roosevelt Avenue, where a defunct bar was located.
O’Brien said the community board plans to stop Lucho’s from obtaining a liquor license at this new location when the matter goes before a full hearing at the State Liquor Authority (the date has not been scheduled). He said that he has spoken to the owner of Lucho’s on several occasions about these problems and nothing has ever been done.
O’Brien said that the SLA has told him that it wants him to present all the “real facts” and “real data” to support why the establishment should not be granted a license. “They don’t want conjecture or what a friend may have heard…they want photographs, personal knowledge,” O’Brien told members of the Community Board 2 on Thursday.
O’Brien also urged the public to call the community board office at (718) 533-8773 if anyone had any first-hand information. “We only have one chance with this.”
An attorney representing Lucho’s, at a recent community board meeting, told O’Brien: “Based on what I have seen and read I don’t think we can lay the problem…on the steps of my client.” The attorney told O’Brien that the problems were not caused by the conduct of his client and it was unfair to suggest so.
However, O’Brien told him the complaints have been too many to ignore. He said: “We [the community board] only have a limited number of tools in our basket—and we will do everything in our power to stop this operation.”
O’Brien said the new location of 65th Street and Roosevelt Avenue is not a good one for any establishment.
“Even if Mother Teresa ran [a bar] here, we would probably not encourage it,” he said. “There is a rule that if there are 3 licensed premises located within 500ft of each other, you have to have a hearing and the law says that SLA has to find that it’s in the best interest of the community.”
O’Brien said that the area between 61st and 69th Streets on Roosevelt Avenue is saturated with establishments. Furthermore, there is a proliferation of violent crime and it is not safe at night, he said.
O’Brien warned that the problems that used to be only in Corona are moving west toward 53rd Street and that the board has been taking a strong position against issuing all liquor licenses in this area.
Some establishments have sought to increase their hours in that area and have faced opposition. For instance, P&L Lounge, located at 38-12 65th Street, was given the thumbs down when it want to extend its hours from 1 am to 2 am. And La Fonda Restaurant Corp., located at 64-09 Roosevelt Ave., also was rejected trying to extend it hours.
However, Lucho’s is currently in the eye of the storm and O’Brien said the residents don’t want it or any establishment like it. “No one should have to see people loaded parading around an area between 12 am and 4 am.”
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26 Comments
Several things here to consider. The transgender community should be able to have a place to go like anyone else where all are open to the public. Restaurant/Bar Hours should be reasonable like anyone else 6:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. for instance. If a bar/dance establishment then 4:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. for instance. Reasonably strict codes of conduct should be enforced both inside and outside the establishment like anywhere else. Zero toleration for prostitution. The pros(professionals) can go ply their trade somewhere else. It is no wonder the transgender community has such a tarnished reputation when all the public sees is transsexual prostitution and sex in the streets. Otherwise, it is drag shows which as far as the public is concerned are transsexuals not just men dressed up like women. The public has little or no knowledge of the differences between transgender, transsexual, and drag queens. As far as the public is concerned they are all the same. Just ignorance and for that ignorance the transgender community pays a price. If the transgender community wants respect they have to behave like everyone else who does not prostitute themselves or have sex in the streets. As for the condoms. At least they are using condoms! And hopefully the syringes are clean. There are programs that hand out new sterile syringes. Another important point. Remember it is not just the transgender or transsexuals that show up here. It is your married next door neighbor, a fellow worker, a relative, even a priest or a rabbi, etc. that shows up here. Prostitution the world’s oldest profession. Legalize, regulate, and educate. Same with drugs. By doing so it will take it off the street and the crime with it. When not legalized it forces it onto the streets into the shadows, the backrooms, and the dark corners and we end up with mess like this.
Condoms = sex duh do people approve of this?
@ anonymous , south. Let’s try and be constructive here. Why don’t you post your address and I will pass it on to the bar owners and trannies , that way they can discard their used condoms in and around your building seeming as your both so fond of condoms. That’s one of the problems solved.
No double standard , if you equate the odd drunken shout in the morning to prostitution, discarded condoms and syringes it’s you who has got double standards. Also most Irish pubs in the neighborhood are pretty empty after 1 or two in the morning and they are frequented by more than just Irish people in fact in most of them the Irish would be in the minority these days
@ I’m so Tired
Arrested for 100 separate counts of gay (by the way, they’re trans. Big difference) hookers, syringes, and condoms?
“Condoms” isn’t a criminal offense, even in Woodside.
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If this place is a den for illegal activity, it needs to be shut down. It’s that simple.
@Im so tired
“100 arrests for gay hookers and syringes and condoms”
They charged them with 100 counts of “gay hookers, syringes, and condoms” I would love to see the paperwork.
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You missed the point of my message – if this place is a den of illegal activity, it needs to be shut down.
Note comment about problems from corona coming here
@Casey
Right… all of the people on the left are staunch supporters of homosexual prostitution. Do yourself a favor and go read a book because your ignorance is astounding.
I don’t know why this is news. It’ll be news when a homosexual establishment doesn’t look like this.
I’m kind of surprised there aren’t more lefties around here supporting this place.
Is the community board homophobic? Lol
Give the trannies green cards they have feelings too ya know
Hey Tired, A drunk is a drunk. Wether these people are crawling out of a tranny bar or an Irish pub, you’re both a nuisance to the neighborhood.
Come to Sunnyside. .” A community of tolerance and diversity where all are welcome”..a Transvestite establishment should feel right at home here….after all it was a she-male that was so warmly welcomed during the recent parade for all…we would definitely benefit….. this kind of diversity makes us stronger!!!!
And where do I get the greencard in an IrishPub?
Can sell it to the hookers so they can legally parade in the green parade.
lol.
Hey big mouth south, what Irish pub has 100 arrests for gay hookers and syringes and condoms . This neighborhood was always Irish if you don’t like it move out
@Luvu2
If they had, De Blasio would have leapt tall buildings in a single bound to take photos with them for the TV cameras, pun intended.
Did they go to the st pats day parade for all?
“Patrick A. O’Brien, who oversees liquor licenses on behalf of Community Board 2, said the NYPD reported that there were about 100 prostitution arrests made within one block of Lucho’s in 2013. However, he said, there were no arrests made within the establishment.”
NO ARRESTS WITHIN THE ESTABLISHMENT.
Same can be said for a lot of the Irish Pubs in SunnyWood where drugs, phony drivers licenses, passports and green cards are bandied about in the open on any given night.
another trashy spanish bar that attracts transvestite hookers coming to roosevelt avenue, that’s new.
“O’Brien said the residents don’t want it or any establishment like it. “No one should have to see people loaded parading around an area between 12 am and 4 am.””
Funny, that’s my issue with Irish pubs.
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If there’s prostitution/drug use that is consistent enough for this article to be written, I would suggest that a few undercover cops go in on a busy night and investigate.
That way the readers of Sunnyside post can save themselves the embarrassment of stringing together a few mild-to-moderately bigoted sentences about the trans patrons.
@David
The “hate card” should cover either.
Woodside is fine. Roosevelt Avenue needs a serious overhaul.
Kramden, the same people who would wave the homophobia card would tell you that many trans people don’t identify as homosexual. There’s a difference between sexual orientation and gender.
Is this where the shemales from Demi Salon go to after a hard day’s work?
Who will be the first to wave the “homophobia” card?
I moved to Woodside almost 7 years ago and I had hopes it would get built up and have a similar vibe to it that Astoria does. Sunnyside seems to be going that route but Woodside has really gone down hill. I don’t feel comfortable being out past 11pm by myself and hearing about this establishment moving closer to where I live is disheartening. Woodside has become dirty, violent and I don’t know why anyone would move here now. Besides my cheap rent and accessibility to manhattan, there is really nothing I like about Woodside anymore. Its a shame.