Boston Police report it took officers and fire inspectors more than an hour to evacuate Rise, a private club at 306 Stuart St. late last night after detectives and fire inspectors found serious overcrowding, fire hazards and possible underage drinking.
Police say a DJ initially refused to stop playing music after police decided to shut the place down and that one of the club's owners vowed to a detective, "I will have your job by Monday."
Police say they initially were drawn to the club by a series of un-permitted barriers the club had put on Stuart Street for crowd control, which they said made it difficult for other people to navigate the street. Once inside, however, they counted roughly 800 patrons in a club licensed for only 292:
While inside the club, detectives observed upwards of fifty patrons who were underage and appeared to be under the influence of alcohol. Moreover, officers observed several nip bottles of alcohol strewn throughout the club. A check of the club’s permits showed a Boston Fire Department Permit and an Inspectional Certificate both to be expired. Consequently, the Fire Permit was seized on the scene.
In addition to the above, Boston Fire officials, while inspecting the location, observed several fire hazards including exposed wires, exposed outlets and flammable decorations hanging from ceilings throughout the club.
The next step for the club are appearances before the Mayor's Office of Consumer Affairs and the Boston Licensing Board, which have the power to suspend its licenses.
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Comments
"I was there." LOL
By Anon
Sun, 01/02/2011 - 6:09pm
"I was there." LOL
HOW MANY PRIVATE CLUBS ARE THERE
By anon
Sun, 01/02/2011 - 10:22am
The burning question is how many after hour private clubs are there,who regulates them, and who do they pay off,
How do teenagers get access to a private club that you have to be a member of.
This wasn't even a regular
By anon
Sun, 01/02/2011 - 12:46pm
This wasn't even a regular rise after hours event. This was an 18+ (but almost entirely under 21) event thrown by the same guy who was arrested a few years ago for his illegal all-ages all-night ice cream shop party. [http://www.universalhub.com/node/23578]
Rise is the only club of its type in Boston and has made the risky move of departing from its historically successful members only afterhours (1-6am) style events that tend to attract a 21+ crowd to offering 9pm-1am open to all events that target an 18+ crowd.
Dr. Samuel Johnson's right about Olson Johnson being right!
By Brian Riccio
Sun, 01/02/2011 - 1:00pm
The anon (not verified)'s are right!! IS this the beginning of the police state here? Will they have to go all Stonewall on the cretins that populate the BPD? This just screams out as a new cause for the tea party! Who will speak for the speed, x, and coke dealers that just need to feed their kids? Who will speak for the club owners that think it's alright to up the cover to $50.00 on Pride weekend?
CLUB KIDS!! TAKE TO THE STREETS!! (when you wake up, of course, and after breakfast and a couple of Djarum's).
Also, anon (not verified), you might want change your writing style when you come into this forum trying to be 3 different people offering a full throated (pun intended)defense of a stupid shithole like Rise.
800??
By anon
Sun, 01/02/2011 - 4:01pm
These cops do have balls. It would definitely take guts to suggest that there were 800 people in that club Friday night. There is no way the place would fit over 300 people between the two floors and one of those two floors was over half empty. I was chilling with my girlfriend on the nearly empty floor, having a fine, peaceful time as were all others around us. All of a sudden the music disappears and the place is being evacuated as though someone had just been murdered. It's a good thing they let all those 18-20 year olds out on to the street, though. I mean, Rise doesn't serve alcohol so where in the world were they going to find it? It was better for those young people to be running around the street on NYE. Thumbs up, Boston PD!! All people running meth labs can sleep soundly knowing you're too busy busting up harmless parties to bother with them.
crowd estimates
By DotLover
Sun, 01/02/2011 - 5:37pm
last time I read a story about an event at the common (think it was the hemp fest?)it clearly stated that the BPD doesn't do crowd estimates anymore...unless it suits them!
Fire regulations
By adamg
Sun, 01/02/2011 - 7:11pm
There's a difference between doing a count of some amorphous crowd on the Common and figuring out whether a club has more people in it than allowed under its occupancy permit. I'm sure you can figure out what that is.
Interview with a co-owner
By adamg
Sun, 01/02/2011 - 6:48pm
I talked to Darrin Morda, who co-owns Rise, tonight. He paints a rather different picture of what happened.
That's nice that you actually
By J
Sun, 01/02/2011 - 7:49pm
That's nice that you actually talked to the other side, because I was incredibly disappointed to read you write:
"Flammable fucking decorations hanging from the ceiling? Are you kidding me? There's a reason police and fire enforcement people in Boston are sensitive to this sort of thing - located just two blocks away."
It's a shame you so quickly took the account of one side as the gospel. Especially when that one side has every incentive to lie.
Successful raid on dangerous location = overtime pay approved.
A police force that sits around not looking for reasons to justify their job is a police force that gets a lower budget.
Coconut Grove - HOW DESPERATE to bring that up?
By Pete Not So Nice
Mon, 01/03/2011 - 3:37pm
Are some of your clowns serious in bringing up the Coconut Grove? Talk about outdated, moronic scare tactics. Might as well mention Nazi Germany and Polio while you are at it….LOL
As for Pete Nice….open your mouth and take the BPD report – hook, line and sinker…what a maroon.
a) there is NO WAY you could fit 400 people in RISE – let alone 800. If that is part of a report that the police claim to “stand by 100%” – the rest of their statements are null and void. Just like if you find 100 pound of weed in an ILLEGAL search….ALL OF IT becomes inadmissible. Period.
b) The distance from the club to the corner of “Arlington and Columbus” is no more than 200 feet. If that is their measure of a massive line, they should get out their ruler and go back to remedial math class. It would take less than 100 people to take up that space. Yet another “on the record” statement that shows how stupid the BPD is.
c) For argument sake, lets assume the line was longer than that (although it is not physically possible) but lets give the meat heads at the BPD and Pete Nice (lol) the benefit of the doubt.
If a club owner had a massive line at 11:40 on NYE – that alone actually show RESTRAINT in their entrance policy. I mean think about it for a second – wouldn’t a club owner that was intent on over packing their club would allow paying customers to miss the ball drop by keeping them lined up in the cold?
Answer: Only a club owner that has the comfort and safety of his patrons in mind.
BPD is ALL WET here. They have had it out for Rise from the beginning..and this was another chance to shake them down. Sad thing is that RISE will win this hearing and win in court and NO NEWSPAPERS will bother to cover that….so score one for soiling their reputation with the corrupt BPD.
right down the center too
By Anonymous
Mon, 01/03/2011 - 4:52pm
Maybe Bay Windows and The Globe or the Tea Party Newsletter won't but Adam will if you give him a heads-up, right down the center too with respect for facts.
Hey, CLUB KID!!
By Brian Riccio
Mon, 01/03/2011 - 5:35pm
Calling posters names for expressing opinions based on experience is no way to win people over on your points. As someone who has seen the business end of both a billy bat and a Yellow Pages, courtesy of the BPD, I have no love and am not always quick to defend them.
HOWEVER..let's face facts here. The club owner has stated publicly that there was maybe 300 people in the club, yet capacity is 292, that's OVERCROWDING, no? If there was fire in the club that night, can you honestly say that there would not have been fatalities?
Also, let's face another fact that seems to be overlooked in all this. We're talking about an after hours joint here,not the YMCA. An after hours joint that any cab driver, limo driver, cop and party animal knows is a marketplace for whatever drug suits your fancy that night; coke, meth, X, weed, and even Viagra. Are you honestly going to tell me the owner of the club has no idea this shit goes on? Please.
So an asshole cop was having a bad night, and he took it out on RISE, get over it and move on. You really think any serious repercussions are going to happen to the asshole cop? Doubtful. Should the club just shut up and leave it alone? Definitely. Unless they want ISD and the BPD and BFD up their ass every weekend.And that's just the way it is in our fair city.
300 on a 292 license....GIVE ME A BREAK...LOL
By Pete the DINK
Mon, 01/03/2011 - 7:55pm
8 people over capacity is overcrowding? Under what ROCK do you live dvdoff? You dont think EVERY BAR in Boston puts a few extra people in their establishment on NYE?
300 in RISE is nothing. They have 3 or 4 exits - sprinklers - and YES 10+ door staff with counter (but nice suggestion dolt)
As for what does or does not happen in any establishment in the city - the only thing any owner is responsible for is reasonable enforcement. There are drugs being done ins EVERY establishment in the city...makes no difference what time they do or do not open. Get your head out of the sand.
Maybe you should read up on Rise before you open your mouth and make yourself sound FOOLISH. Rise already took the city of Boston to court on numerous occasions, and beat them every time. Same thing will happen again here.
People like you with your outdated, prejudiced, ignorant opinons are the exact reason Boston nightlife is a joke and Boston get very few conventions and other world class events. Adults dont want to be told to go to bed at 1:45 - and so will continue to spend their dollars in NYC, Chicago etc.
2 fans!
By Pete Nice
Mon, 01/03/2011 - 8:50pm
I read up on Rise on some review sites. Here are some quotes just from Yelp. F'n hilarious. I do have to admit that people like this need a place to go and for all intents and purposes the club seems to do a good job.
one two three four
By anon
Mon, 01/03/2011 - 9:26pm
1. no links.
2. taking punitive action against the club managers is not justified by illegal drug use by patrons, under the law.
3. no one was arrested for violating the law, not one person. instead the Boston police closed the place at 11:40PM New Years Eve for code violations.
4. If its true the club had been approached in advance by the BPD to inquire if they wanted to hire a rent-a-cop and they declined, then this raid shapes up like retribution, using law enforcement authority for payback for declining to hire a moonlighting/overtime BPD officer, also called pay to play; also called illegal corruption.
Ahh...youth!
By Brian Riccio
Mon, 01/03/2011 - 10:07pm
First of all, please cite all of the times Rise has taken the city to court and prevailed. I'd be curious to see how many times this has allegedly happened.
Also, I have spent more nights than I care to admit sitting in front of Rise waiting for clients. My comments are based more on their accounts than personal experience. So I don't have to read up on the place.I have listed my experience with previous after hours joints in previous posts.
We are not talking about EVERY other establishment, we're talking about Rise here, and what goes on there. Also, who do I see to score Ecstasy from at Morton's? How about H? Can I score some at L'Espalier? Who do I see for meth at the Fours? Following your flawed logic, these are establishments in this city and as you say EVERY establishment has drugs available in the bathrooms,no? And who decides what "reasonable enforcement" is, you? Drug dealers go to places like Rise because that's where the customers are.
Also, 300 at Rise is not "nothing", it's capacity. And your flawed logic says that as long as everyone else does it on NYE, then it's alright for Rise to do it, right? Please also cite how I am prejudiced? Where were the racist sentiments in any of my posts?
Also, as someone who is in the travel business here, I can cite meetings and conventions that take place here all the time, can you? What's your travel background? How many medical, financial and philanthropic conventions does this city get in a year? Please cite by group and convention center, if you would.
And to your final point, adults don't want to be told when to go to bed. Kids get hopped up all night on speed or X, jump around to the throbbing beats of whatever the hot DJ is at the moment,touch each other in the most annoying ways possible, throw up in the alley, then go home and go to bed at 6 AM. Guess which one I am?
You sat in a limo outside of
By Pete Not So Nice
Tue, 01/04/2011 - 12:03pm
You sat in a limo outside of Rise, so you think you are qualified to speak about what happens inside?
Yeah – I sat in the club seats at the Celtics game last night, so CLEARLY I know all there is to know about how to play in the NBA.
WHAT A MORON.
Well, person who has no argument...
By Brian Riccio
Tue, 01/04/2011 - 4:43pm
Are you going to tell me that there are no drug sales at ALL in Rise?
Address that point before you start calling people names.
Your arguments and name calling , as foolish as they may be, seem to come from a little kid who fears that the playground is going to be shutdown..so where and the rest of my little club kidders going to go now? Boo fucking hoo.
We're not talking about the local malt shop that's been there for 50 years being shut down. Also, the owner does not impress me as "Pop", the beloved owner of the malt shop, who has always looked out for the kids. We're talking about a place that kids can go to dance and roll. Where they pay a yearly fee for the privilege or $20.00 at the door and there isn't even a fucking band! Just whatever the hot DJ is at the moment, playing recorded music! As much as you spoiled little babies whine about the bad old BPD and how they are nothing but a bunch of buzzkillers, let's see you put on a gun everyday and go out with the knowledge that this could be your last day on Earth. No, you're too busy stealing music on BitTorrent and worrying about how you can convince your parents that you really, really need money for new ink.
The Malt Shop? Talk about a dinosaur...lol
By Pete the DINK
Tue, 01/04/2011 - 8:47pm
There are people in EVERY BAR and CLUB in the city sneaking in drugs. Hell, there are people on every T train - at every Red Sox game - in every college classroom - and every workplace doing something they should not be doing. Are you seriously trying to base some kind of point on a luscious point like that?
Rise is NOT going to be shut down. Not even close. They are going to be open next weekend, and when their day in court comes they will once again make the Boston Police look foolish and win their case.
Meanwhile you can be sure to head to bed by 11 on a weekend night, like you usually do after spending the night talking about topical subjects like the Coconut Grove, the Naked-I Lounge, and what Governor Ed King is going to do during the forthcoming Tall Ships / Bicentennial celebration.
Way to keep your finger on the pulse of the city DVDOFF...LMAO.
Hey I have a fan!
By Pete Nice
Mon, 01/03/2011 - 6:17pm
I still haven't read the report either, I assume my bizzaro twin hasn't either (although I'm not surprised people think new blurbs done by the news staff makes a legal report.)
If the club owner had the comfort and safety of his patrons in mind, why not hire a detail cop and have him stand at the door? Or how about have some fire permits? Or how about someone stand at the front with a counter like most bars do on New Years or on busy Saturday nights?
But I have a random question. If this place is a private club, and the owner says it had about 300 people in it (with a capacity of 300+/-. Why would there even be a line? Did you invite more then the capacity? How does that even work?
And if the BPD had it in for RISE from the beginning, why did it take them 12 years to take some sort of action, and action that wasn't even that serious (a few code violations). You can bet if the police wanted to, they would have had some undercover cops go in there and you could easily have 2 to 3 drug arrests a night, and probably unlimited alcohol arrests. The fact is the cops turned a blind eye to this place (which probably wasn't even that bad) for 12 years.
And how can RISE win a hearing when the owner said they had 300 people there with an expired fire permit?
Most of the whiners here probably aren't old enough to
By Brian Riccio
Mon, 01/03/2011 - 7:14pm
remember the Astor Theater. Class? Anyone? It was a moviehouse on Tremont that showed some of the greatest movies ever. When it closed, they turned it into an after hours joint, It was wild! The only place I've ever been shot at in my life!
Well, kids, the BPD didn't like what was going on there and they had the place closed down toot suite, if I recall correctly. So all of you who feel victimized by the BPD and think they have it out for this poor little club that only wants provide a safe environment for college kids to roll til dawn, remember the Astor Theater. And remember, RISE has been open for 12 years, and as Pete says, if the BPD really wanted it gone it would be gone. Ask George Black. Ask Jason Kravetz.
This is all about Keeler and his history. Not the BPD at large.
By anon
Mon, 01/03/2011 - 7:25pm
What happened here was that a bad cop initiated an action against the club and then he was dishonest about it. He was dishonest because he had to be in order to justify his actions. All you ahve to do is look at his record and it all makes sense.
Frankly at this point I'm more interested in a conversation about how Keeler still has a job. Theft, Groping Women, False Records? This means that we can not take Keeler at his word and he's not qualified to be in situations like this. He shouldn't be on the force.
Why does Keeler have a job at the BPD?
good question!
By anon
Mon, 01/03/2011 - 9:28pm
Davis implemented a ZERO TOLERANCE policy for testilying on incident reports. Time to enforce it.
I remember the Astor Theatre
By Ron Newman
Mon, 01/03/2011 - 7:31pm
but never went into it. It showed mostly horror and exploitation movies while I was in college in the 1970s. By the time I returned here in 1984 it had been demolished. Loews Boston Common theatre and one of the Ritz-Carlton towers is on the site now.
CinemaTreasures has a page about the Astor.
What was it like as an 'after hours joint'? Did you really get shot there? Who are George Black and Jason Kravetz?
For a short while, some enterprising club owners thought
By Brian Riccio
Mon, 01/03/2011 - 8:29pm
it would be a bright idea to use the decaying theater into an after hours joint. It ended up being a place where the worst of the worst from every project in the city went to get lit up on angel dust or whatever was available at the time. One of the 2 or 3 times I went there, some deal went bad and some kid whipped out a gun and just started shooting. I had to dive behind a couch until it was safe to come out. Nobody got hit, but it was one of the reasons the BPD shut the place down.
George Black owned a club called 9 Lansdowne at that address. He made the mistake of pissing off both the cops and the Lyons brothers at the time and all of a sudden no more 9 Lansdowne and George Black allegedly skipped town before the bent noses got to him.
Jason Kravetz owned a club on Clarendon St at the site of the old Hard Rock, called Jason's. At the time it was the glitziest club in town. Problem was, the story went, that the Jason who really owned the joint was Jason Angiulo, son of the local Don. The one day, the Angiulos go to jail and then no more Jason's.
Bottom line, you piss off the cops in this town, they will make it their mission to make your life miserable, and 9 times out of 10, there isn't a thing you can do about it.
Your point is?
By SwirlyGrrl
Mon, 01/03/2011 - 8:33pm
I'm still trying to figure out how anything you said here has anything to do with Rise, how it is operated, etc.
Comparing Rise to some storied crack den 30 years ago is a pretty specious leap of illogic. So is your contention that police harassment of a legal business is acceptable because, well, because you think they should be able to do so.
Well...
By Brian Riccio
Mon, 01/03/2011 - 8:58pm
The owners and patrons of RISE are claiming that they are victims here. The cops seem to be lying in their assessment of the crowd size here. My point is that both sides are assholes and guess which side is going to win?
My point, my dear Swirly, is that while RISE seems to be a well run club, the owners are not exactly paragons of virtue. As I pointed out earlier, we are still talking about a place that is as much of a drug supermarket as the old Astor was, it's just that as long as people are not shooting each other in the place, it's pretty much gotten a pass from the cops. The same cops, who, as Pete pointed out, could shut this place down in 10 minutes with a few properly placed undercover drug officers picking up some X in the men's room. Activities that the owners and the staff surely ignore as long as it's done discreetly.
The point is, and the examples I cited just go to show, if you own a club in this town and you want to piss off the cops here, you won't have a club here for long. And your contention that I am saying that it's alright for the cops to harass a legal business is ludicrous. RISE is not a sub shop or a clothing store, it's an after hours joint and anyone who has ever been to one knows what goes on in there, legally and illegally.
"My point is that both sides are assholes "
By anon
Mon, 01/03/2011 - 9:34pm
that would make 3 assholes (yes YOU).
What do you think it took last time to have a court decide in favor of the club owners? A good case. So the BPD has a bad case.
How you decide the club owners are assholes based on Jason Kravit's club is cognitive dissonance.
Never in my life have I seen
By Brian Riccio
Mon, 01/03/2011 - 10:19pm
people so quick to leap to the defense of a nightclub.Did I say the clubowners have no case? No. Did I say that the clubowners are not the civic minded individuals that their defenders seem to think that they are? Yes.
I cited Jason Kravetz as an example of a clubowner who pissed off the cops and it was just one of the reasons that his place closed. Where did you see me call him an asshole? And my use of the term asshole in referring to the owners of Rise was based on the fact that I feel you don't charge a $20.00 cover 51 weekends of the year and then jack it up to $50.00 on Pride weekend. Only an asshole would bite one of the hands that feeds you.
Don't you worry little club kids, if Rise goes away, there will sure enough be another shithole to take it's place.
Pretty much the only thing I agree with you on is that I am an asshole. I've never denied that.
I remember Jasons..
By Pete Nice
Mon, 01/03/2011 - 9:00pm
Closed right about the time I was able to go there. Then there was Narcissus which wasn't a bad stop after a few cold ones at the Rat.
Are there any good dive bars anymore in Boston? Even the Allston ones seem to have cleaned up their act and put up 3K 50 inch TVs all over.
Ron, thanks so much for the link!!!
By Brian Riccio
Mon, 01/03/2011 - 8:39pm
I had never seen that site before! What a treat! A special thanks for the shout out to Justin Freed. He was good friends with my Dad. Some of my favorite childhood memories were at his theaters, especially the Park Square, where my Dad took us to see our first Marx Bros movies. It was a great time to be a movie fan here. Between the Orson Welles, the Central Sq., the 2 Freed theaters and every one of the Sack cinemas, you never wanted for a great place to see a film. I still remember seeing "Yellow Submarine" at the Gary like it was yesterday!
"why not hire a detail cop"
By anon
Mon, 01/03/2011 - 7:18pm
lol. I guess you're getting right to the point. Someone wants a little payola.
Would have saved the club a lot of money too.
By Pete Nice
Mon, 01/03/2011 - 8:34pm
nn
I think there is a word for this
By SwirlyGrrl
Mon, 01/03/2011 - 8:36pm
Extortion.
Fine then.
By Pete Nice
Mon, 01/03/2011 - 8:53pm
Hire a reputable security guard with a counter. If I owned a club that is bringing in tens of thousands of dollars on a busy night, I'd want some offical coverage. 4 hour detail is going to cost you $120 bucks. You could have let in 305 people then.
"reputable security guard" = BPD EXTORTION
By anon
Mon, 01/03/2011 - 9:39pm
because keeping track of the number of people that pass through the door takes a "reputable security guard" LOL ... some BPD officer and 1.5 or double time.
Is this about flag details?
Before you claim it takes someone other than who was there, you should make the case.
These bouncers have to be good.
By Pete Nice
Mon, 01/03/2011 - 10:02pm
And I bet they are good at a bar like this. And yea, you should have someone with a clicker counting how many people you have in the club. They have been doing that since I was 21. Bars do it today because they never know when a fire marshall or inspector is going to come by and count themselves.
And I think if they did hire a detail cop, none of this would have happened, unless the supervisor in charge wanted to reprimand the cop as well (which has happened).
All i have to say is people
By R. Status
Mon, 01/03/2011 - 9:51pm
All i have to say is people need to mind their own fucking business. Do you really have nothing better to do then complain about what others do with their free time. Going to a club is not some sub-human thing to do and they are not set up like an all you can eat drug buffet. You can find more drug and alcohol use at high schools all over the country then inside a club. I hate when people use the phrase "Club Kids" it makes me want to call you an Ignorant Hick. You go to concerts to see your favorite artists play the music you love. Thats exactly what we do, we just get to do it every weekend. Same exact thing only on a smaller scale with differnt music.
The security there are amazing. Some of the best ive seen at any club and yes ive been to quite a few places.
As for the BPD's original estimate of 942 people.....then 800 people. Of that 800, 500 of them reportedly on the first floor crammed into 1,000 square feet of space. Thats 2 square feet per person. IMPOSSIBLE. Thats probably why there was no head count taken as the patrons left and why the fire department was called after.
Someone explain to me why that many officers where needed to break up a non-alcoholic, non-agressive party? Wouldnt it have been smarter to use thoese same officers available for DUI Check Points; or on hand at one of the many Alcoholic 21+ parties that have reputations of having a violent agressive drunk crowds?
if someone even thinks about posting a reply to bitch about grammer or spelling or anything of that sort.....your a mess.
You spelled grammar wrong.
By Pete Nice
Mon, 01/03/2011 - 10:07pm
I have to admit I'd be there if I were a 19 year old today. I remember being 15 and going downtown walking around like a boob looking for something to do freezing my ass off.
Although now that I think of it, there were more places back in the day that were 18+ but only those over 21 could drink with a florescent bracelet. And I'd always be the one caught by the bouncer drinking without a dam bracelet on.
Rise will NOT BE CITED afterall...
By Pete Not So Nice
Mon, 01/10/2011 - 1:58pm
What you got to say now Pete and Devildog :)
Cool - link?
By Marc
Tue, 01/11/2011 - 10:02pm
Do you have a link to this encouraging news?
http://newsflash.bigshotmag.c
By Pete Not So Nice
Thu, 01/13/2011 - 8:48am
http://newsflash.bigshotmag.com/news/12315/
Incorrect
By adamg
Thu, 01/13/2011 - 10:03am
That's based on a Herald story which became outdated only a few hours after it went to press when the Fire Department decided to cite Rise for overcrowding after all.
What do I have to say?
By Pete Nice
Thu, 01/13/2011 - 10:30am
nanny-nanny-boo-boo.
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