Licensing board to consider rolling back closing time for Theater District clubs; says after-hours street parties getting out of hand

Boston Licensing Board Chairwoman Kathleen Joyce said today she plans to call a hearing at which to consider rolling back the 2 a.m. closing time for Theater District clubs, after listening today to police describe large street parties that often include people taking over the streets so they can crank up giant speakers mounted in the back of pickups, drink, dance, sometimes on the tops of cars, and get into brawls.

Five of the six hearings the board held today about possible rules infractions at local clubs and bars involved Theater District clubs, including one in which New England Patriots players were allowed to party well past the state-mandated 2 a.m. closing time in a private Halloween bash at Bijou on Stuart Street, to avoid any "mixing" with people being let out from another private party at the club.

But the hearing that got Joyce particularly incensed involved Candibar on Tremont Street, in particularly a large party centered on the parking garage at 270 Tremont St. after closing time on Oct. 13. Police said hundreds of people were swaying to music playing from large speakers in the back of car trucks and mounted in pickups, at least until officers to break things up, including at least one fighting circle of men, one of who allegedly learned that the ballistic vests officers wear protects them not just from bullets but from closed fists.

BPD Officer Christopher Rooney, who responded that night, told the board the loud music alone prompted several calls to 911, including one from the Doubletree across from the parking lot, where somebody mistook a particularly loud burst of sound for gunfire.

Joyce then asked Rooney if that night was unusual, and he replied it was not, that Saturday nights into Sunday mornings in particular have become particularly troublesome in the Theater District.

"There's some sort of mass acceptance of having a massive party on Tremont Street" after the clubs let out, he said. "You're having an influx of hundreds, if not thousands, of people in this area," he said, adding "we're lucky it's only been minor fights down there."

The parking garage serves all the Theater District clubs, but Candibar was cited - and had to appear for today's hearing - because three pals of the guy charged with trying and failing to beat up a cop told officers Candibar let them in and let them drink even though they were all under 21.

Candibar co-owner Charles Delpidio disputed that they were actually inside the lounge, that his doormen rigorously check IDs, including with license scanners. And he said it's unfair to blame Candibar for what happened at a garage that is used by all the area clubs, since there's no proof the three were telling the truth about drinking in his establishment.

"It sounds like closing time is a complete mess down there, yet again," Joyce said. She told Delpidio and co-owner George Kalevas they better start talking to their fellow club owners about how they're going to rein things in at closing time because at her proposed hearing - for which she did not set a date - she is going to propose earlier closing times for all the Theater District clubs if they can't come up with an answer.

"I am truly serious about this," she warned them.

In the Bijou incident, club managers said the issue related to how to end the night for two separate private parties - one upstairs, one downstairs - without any problems on Oct. 28. Upstairs, Patriots players were, for a change this season, having a good night. The club's manager told the board he decided to clear out the nondescript party on the first floor before ushering the Patriots out to avoid what his lawyer called "mixing out in the street" - he said he wasn't expecting any trouble, just wanted to avoid having players bothered by fans.

The problem, the club admitted, was that this meant the Patriots didn't start to leave until 2:30 or so, a half hour after closing. The last Patriot was out and into his "black car" around 2:50 a.m. But the problem with that problem, police testified, is that the club kept the music going until 2:30 - prompting 911 calls from nearby residents.

Club attorney Stephen Miller said club management now knows it can ask the board for permission to stay open a bit later to achieve peaceful end-of-night crowd dispersal. Board rules give establishments with 2 a.m. closing times until 2:30 a.m. to get all patrons out - and has in the past granted clubs dispensation to go later than that with extenuating circumstances.

But Joyce told Miller and the club: No more, especially not in the Theater District where closing time is now a problem again. To start, even if the club gets permission to stay open later to ensure a smooth exit of all patrons, it has to shut the music off by 2 a.m., no exceptions. But Joyce said, instead the club should figure out how to get one party out earlier than 2 a.m. to meet that absolute 2:30 a.m. deadline.

"I don't care if it's the Patriots, the Celtics or who it is," she said.

The board also held a hearing on a citation by police to Venu on Warrenton Street, for a Nov. 11 incident in which police found a large crowd gathered outside - police and the club disagreed where there was any fighting going on - after an incident near closing inside that kept going on after closing outside.

Club officials said there was no fight. Instead, they said, some people inside rushed the stage near closing in an effort to get closer to the night's performer - with one guy being particular insistent and banging on the door of the back room into which club security and the performer's retinue had tried to secure the performer so he could leave. That guy's photo is now on the club's "banned" list of people no longer allowed in.

The other Theater District incident discussed today did not involve closing time but instead an incident at Candibar on Sept. 10, in which a woman denied entry because a doorman thought she was drunk and intent on bringing her drink inside grew incensed and tried to sneak in anyway, then swung at a doorman who tried to block her, after which he punched her. Delpidio and Kalevas said the man no longer works for them, in fact, he's since moved out of the country.

The non-Theater District hearing involved a bar at the posh Raffles Hotel on Trinity Place in the Back Bay Oct. 11 in which one man sitting at a table with some women got mad that a guy sitting next to his table bought drinks for his lady friends, caught up with him outside the men's room, threatened to twist his neck and kill him and then tried to do so, only to have security quickly break up the fight.

The board meets Thursday to consider whether the clubs could have prevented the incidents and, if so, whether they merit any sort of sanction.