As we reported a short time ago, another bar was caught up in the Lower East Side nightlife crackdown this evening. Shortly after 10 p.m., officers from the 7th Precinct showed up at White Slab Palace, the Swedish restaurant/drinking destination at 77 Delancey Street. Acting on a court order, they instructed owner Annika Sundvik to close the bar down.
Many other neighborhood nightlife establishments have been shuttered for underage drinking violations. The White Slab Palace case is apparently a little different. Several months ago, the State Liquor Authority learned that the bar was operating without a liquor permit. Since that time, Sundovik got her license reinstated. But the court proceedings had already been set in motion and – finally – this week the judge gave the NYPD the go-ahead to close the bar.
Tonight, quite a few customers, who were inside when police arrived, gathered on the sidewalk, watching through the bar’s big glass windows as the place was being shut down. Some of them complained about the closure, saying White Slab Palace is a pretty low key place — not a raucous club. Captain David Miller, who’s overseeing the precinct’s nightlife crackdown, stood outside, explaining to passersby what was happening.
In June, the SLA fined the bar $500 (the state’s antiquated computer system does not specify why the penalty was imposed). White Slab Palace is still fending off a civil lawsuit from a woman who was hit in the head by a moosehead that came off the wall during a night of partying in 2009. Tonight one officer noted that the windows along Delancey Street were shattered long ago but Sundovik has not gotten around to repairing the damage.
She’ll presumably be in court next week, trying to get her bar reopened. We’ll follow-up.
