Le Reve club a nightmare: C.B. 5
BY ALEJANDRA
O’CONNELL-DOMENECH
A car speeds the wrong
direction along E. 54th
St., forcing two pedestrians
crossing the street to
jump out of the way and fall on
the sidewalk.
The driver parks in front
of Le Reve, a small nightclub
nestled in the middle of a block
of restaurants and residential
buildings. The guy steps out
of the car, rips off his shirt
and angrily looks for someone
in the crowd outside the club.
Witnesses say he looked intoxicated.
Eventually, two men help
him back to his car.
“It’s like this most weekends,”
said Jorge Colon, the doorman
at 135 E. 54th St., one of the
two residential buildings neighboring
Le Reve. Colon has
worked at the building seven
years and noticed a change in
the behavior of Le Reve’s patrons
three summers ago.
In short, Le Reve, “the
dream” in French, has become
a complete nightmare, neighbors
say.
According to Colon, partiers
started becoming more aggressive,
especially once they exited
the nightclub after an afternoon
and evening of drinking.
During the weekends, Le Reve
is open from 2 p.m. until 4 a.m.
and patrons will take part in
“day parties.”
But it has been within the
last year that the loud music,
yelling patrons, loitering, public
urination and fi ghts have
become unbearable.
“It’s gotten so bad that I almost
got assaulted today,” said
Colon, visibly shaken, during
an interview with this paper on
May 12.
Earlier that afternoon, he
and a resident heard shouting
outside coming from the direction
of Le Reve. When they
stepped out of 135 E. 54th St.’s
lobby to investigate, Colon said
that he was approached by an
intoxicated 20-something man
who asked him what he was
looking at and threatened to
slap him.
Security from Le Reve
quickly came by to help Colon
and eventually got the drunken
man, and the group of other patrons
behind him, to leave.
Soon residents might be
freed from their weekend ordeal.
Community Board 5 recently
voted in favor of an advi-
A promo piece for a Halloween party at Le Reve partly reflects the community’s
feeling about the place.
COURTESY GOOGLE MAPS
Le Reve has an unassuming entranceway but has become a big problem on its block,
according to Board 5 and neighbors.
sory resolution denying renewal
of the club’s liquor license.
According to the New York
State Liquor Authority, Le Reve
fi led for the renewal on April 15.
But the bar is currently under investigation
by the S.L.A., which
fi led four violations against the
place for noise, disorderly conduct
and poor supervision. A
hearing is scheduled for June 6.
Only then can an offi cial decision
on the license renewal be
had.
Le Reve could not be reached
for comment on the status of its
liquor-license renewal application.
C.B. 5 decided to recommend
denial of the liquor license because
of noise and assault complaints,
its unorthodox security
measures and the high number
of police visits to the hot spot.
“The fact that the operator
sees the need to dress and equip
their employees in tactical gear,
including bulletproof vests, and
arm them with pepper spray,
shoe spikes and metal batons, is
clear evidence that the premises
is out of control,” the resolution
states.
Last year, 18 police reports
were fi led about incidents occurring
at Le Reve. The majority of
the reports were for instances of
larceny and assault. One of the
more violent incidents occurred
on July 1, 2018, when three young
women were slashed across their
faces with box cutters and beaten
with a belt during a fi ght, resulting
in six arrests. In September
2018, the S.L.A. entered into a
settlement agreement with Le
Reve regarding “various offenses,”
the resolution notes.
Nevertheless, the problems
persisted, including an incident
last Nov. 11, when a Le Reve employee
allegedly falsely identifi ed
himself as a police offi cer and
used pepper spray to control an
unruly patron.
So far this year, there have
been fi ve police reports fi led regarding
incidents of harassment,
assault and graffi ti at Le Reve.
Cops were called to the club
on Sat., May 11, and Sun., May
12, but police were unable to
provide incident reports for
those two dates.
6 May 30 - June 12, 2019 MEX Schneps Media