After an unsuccessful appeal to keep its liquor license, Chi Chiz — the West Village gay bar filled with some of the hottest chocolate men — is closing for good after continued attacks from the Greenwich Village Block Association in cahoots with the NYPD. Something about “drug dealing” and “excessive noise.” I’m sure the GVBA will be pleased with even more empty storefronts on Christopher Street. Chi Chiz’s last night will be Jan. 3. I won’t be there, so pour me a drink, will ya? [via]
Jaime
Good riddance. That place was the epicenter of all the shit and trouble that’s been happening on Christopher Street for a long while. What can you expect form a bar that boasts a “Section 8” sign above one of the seating area’s at the bar.
Oh well, I guess the “customers” will just migrate on up to The Hangar.
Tony
Sorry, but it was a shithole…riddled with crime. Good riddance
ILoveDudes
Jaime : Maybe. But whether you’re correct or not that Chi Chiz caused more trouble and crime than it was worth, it sort of doesn’t matter because all the gay bars on Christopher Street and thereabouts will be gone before long.
David
I wonder where all the black guys who feel unwelcome at white clubs are going to go?
Jason
Stay home or go out in there own neighborhoods.LOL
Qjersey
5-4-3-2-1
Welcome Starbucks
Thank you
Time to take over another white bar….ALA G Lounge…hmmm maybe we can invade Ritz…
Jamie
Should have left it open, as said in a previous comment now they’re all going to move into one of the other bars!
joe K
That place was a magnet for the scum of the community. Sometimes Querrty seems to think that and gay bar that closes is just the neighbors and police ganging up on a bar. The cops in the Village are some of the coolest around. The Block Association was correct in getting it closed after YEARS of problems.
scott ny'er
That’s sad. I remember seeing a bunch of dudes always crowded around it at Pride. I mean, at Pride that street is full with people too, but you see all these dudes in front of there too. In fact, for the longest time, I didn’t realize that was a bar. LOL.
THERE ARE MORE JUST LIKE ME
Awesome comments, guys. Or maybe there has been a mistake – I typed in queerty.com and was accidentally redirected to stormfront.org?
BTW Jason, it’s ‘go out in THEIR own neighborhoods’, not THERE. Just goes to show the level of intelligence we are dealing with here.
Diya
@THERE ARE MORE JUST LIKE ME: seriously. Queerty comments about race used to anger and confuse me, but then I realized that these queer racists are Fox-News-watching shut ins who are angry at the world…
TelltheTruth
More likely some of THESE posters are those who live in the West Village and just got sick of the crime and troublemakers stemming from in and around that bar. And they’re the ones who can rightly comment on this situation in any way they choose. I agree that some of the very specifically-racial comments can be tuned down a bit though. Do you guys really want to hurt decent peoples’, of whatever color, feelings?
TelltheTruth
But, what I don’t understand, is why some Black entrepreneur in NYC doesn’t open a gay bar for people of color in a Black neighborhood, in Brooklyn or Queens? Because doesn’t anything outside of Manhattan cost less rent? I’m no expert, I’m just wondering.
Sekai
@TelltheTruth: They would get the shit kicked out of them by their own community. It’s not secret that one cannot start a gay bar in a Black neighborhood without having to deal with the backlash from the Black churches/mosques in the community. I had a friend from college who tried to create a gay bar in his hometown, Indianapolis, in a majority Black community so that they would not have to go far from home to go to a bar. But he caught so much shit from the religious leaders who were successful in blocking his ability to get a liquor license. He was also threaten on several different times that something “bad” could happen to the bar and his customers. In the end, he was so paranoid about the safety of his potential customers that he just gave up on the idea.
RLS
Lord, to all of the racists that don’t even live in NYC, I can break it down for you:
There ARE already gay bars in NYC in black neighborhoods with a predominantly black, gay clientele. There’s even another one in the West Village that is very popular among black gays, but I won’t blow it up here.
The block association has successfully closed Chi Chiz, and if you all don’t think that race and racism has something to do with it, just look at some of the comments on this board.
There are plenty of spaces for black gays to go in NYC and beyond.
BTW, don’t think that they won’t come for the other bars in the West Village too. They won’t be happy until an area that has always been historically gay is completely whitewashed.
afrolito
The sheer level of stupidity and racism here never fails to astound me. Btw, I’ve lived in New York City my entire life, and wasn’t aware that the West Village was exclusively for whites.
joe K
So either you are a bigot or part of the neighboorhood conspiracy to shut down all the gay bars. Both views are idiotic.
This is just a bar in a residential neighboorhood that has a long record of drug dealing and crime that was a dangerous business (as it would have been in ANY neighboorhood). I have walked past the front of the bar and have had people ask me if I wanted to buy drugs. How people can see this as racist or the community board going anti-gay is beyond me. People have been mugged in front of the bar and on that street. Not that it matters it was just as much color on color as well as color on white crime.
There was an ancient gay bar on west street down the block (the name escapes me now) that is in an historic building. That bar (gay with a white clientel) was shuttered for drug dealing and prostitution. That closeing was about 12 years ago, and yes the police were right that there was drug dealing going on in the bar (you could see it happen in front of you).
The paranoia of the neighboorhood going to shut down gay bars are just insane. On christopher street the same basic bars have been there since I came ou in 79. there have been a few others that came and went, but that was just the cycle of business and life.
I really do not understand and never will understand how the more millitant people in our community get angry when a gay business closses wither because it constantly breaks the law, the rent gets too high, or the owners decide to retire and then start screaming it is for anti-gay reasons.
The ony people who knew why they closed are those of us who lived near the bar, had to walk by it at night, and worked in the area. It will be wondewrful to walk from 7th down to the Hudson River Park at night without dreading walking by the bar and the path station.
Thank you
Yes because you know drugs are NEVER EVER EVER at white clubs. I mean Michael Alig was an angel in the 1990s and only served soda and crackers at limelight. OF course I never once saw a methed up addict at Roxy. There has never been a steroid/drug bust in any white Chelsea gay establishment. Twilo and Tunnel great place to sober up because there was never any drugs there…
Some of you racist need to give it a rest. There is just as much noise, drugs and fights in “white” clubs as their are “black.”
joe K
I am curious as to where the racist thing is coming from. The Rawhide gtes closed regularly due to drugs, but they own the bar so the building so it is hard to shut them down, and the locals don’t see a issue. The city is trying to close down a few of the big name clubs due to drugs, rape, crime, and they are nhot black clubs. I always thought the first person to call out the color of a bars patrons was the one playing the race card.
Since this is gone from a reality check to a race fight, I am just going to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
afrolito
@Thank you:
Thank You.
Marcus
All my gay brothers and sisters should just come here to Atalanta,there is a thriving black gay scene here where you don’t have to put up with racism.
James
It makes me so sad to see how divide gay people are.
Sexy Rexy
@Diya: There’s plenty of racists on this website, as you can see. And search the archives as well. They enjoy calling blacks out on their homophobia without acknowledging, or sometimes even reveling in their own racism.
If some of them weren’t gay, they would happily join the Klan. Wearing the flowing white sheets could only be gravy.
Sexy Rexy
PS = And I have to add – I worked in a mostly white gay bar in my city, and TRUST me; these white queens engage in the same vile and disgusting behavior they accuse the black queens of doing. I’ve watched these white faggots steal tips off of the bar, pick fights, suck cock underneath the bar, in the restrooms, in the alley, become drunken attention whores, and just basically behave like lowlifes. So some of you cunts just need to STFU about the “blacks” in Chi-Chis and everywhere else – you are no less guilty.
ILoveDudes
SexyRexy : And some of the Blacks on here would join the New Black Panthers if they weren’t gay, to blame whites for everything and wish they could wipe them out of existence. It goes both ways. But, knowing a lot of people that live in the West Village, I don’t think anybody would have cared if the crime had stayed in the bar, but the way it spills onto the street around that area is what made the residents say it had to go. I’ll admit, though, although residents of that area have been mugged by members of the “pier crowd”, I don’t know if the criminals were patrons of that bar or not, or just would have been hanging around there anyway. I guess next summer will show.
Thank you
To much blame is going to the bar crowd. People need to look at the “pier” crowd. That area is NOT going to get any quieter. The kids on the pier will continue popping, dipping, spinning, vouging, fighting, cussing there way down Christopher St. I am willing to bet most the noise happens around midnight when they close the pier. If they would just leave it open like the good ol days, the area would be quieter then that 12 am rush the area experiences.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Virtually every bar in NYC has at least one dude who has “party favors” available for those who wish to partake………It is the selective enforcement of the laws that is suspect in cases like this………
LONG TIME NEW YORKER
Yes lets leave the racist comments alone, the bars on christopher street are patronized by all races, the resident of the neighborhood just want a quiet place to live, the nonsense that occurs around chi chiz occurs around all the gay bars in nyc, you see it in chelsea as well, may be more to it then we are seeing, the mayor would like these establishments shut down and the quality of life improved, although I thought new york was about its night life which drew in tourist who spend 10 dollars or more to enter these establishments and pay for drinks. We have to be careful of how far we go, btw a few gay bars will be closing throughout the city, hhhmm