By Helen Klein
Just a little more a year after it opened its doors, a controversial club has been shuttered. Club Shadows, which had been located at 9013 Fourth Avenue, was closed earlier this month, after the owner of the property locked out the person who was running the watering hole. “With all the publicity and enforcement we were doing, word got back to the owner that there were a lot of violations and a lot of police activity,” said Captain Eric Rodriguez, the commanding officer of the 68th Precinct during a phone interview. “He was obviously concerned about the reputation of the club and the liquor license. He bolted the whole place shut. We didn’t close it down. It was a concerned community person.” There had been “several fights” at the club, Rodriguez noted, as well as, “Several occasions when underage kids were drinking. The people running the establishment were obviously not adhering to our recommendations. “By their closing,” he went on, “that’s one less place we have to worry about. We can deploy people in other areas that might need it during the year.” The precinct was not the only city agency to receive complaints about the club. Indeed, Community Board 10 had gotten numerous complaints about Shadows from area residents during the time it was open for business. This past fall, the board had fielded complaints about noise and people hanging out outside the club from people living nearby who contended that the club was having a negative impact on their quality-of-life – an issue that had been discussed at length during a meeting of the board’s Public Safety Committee. Even before it opened, Club Shadows had raised a stir because of the sign announcing “exotic dancers” that had gone up on the exterior of the building, illustrated by a silhouette of what appeared to be a scantily clad young woman, beckoning passersby within. The location, said Josephine Beckmann, the district manager of CB 10, has frequently been “a problem site,” though, she noted that, during a previous incarnation – the Regal Beagle, a ‘70s-themed restaurant – “there weren’t problems. “Hopefully,” Beckmann added, “that is something the property owner will take into consideration” when making future plans for the property.
