Saturday afternoon I was heading over to Stop & Shop and popped my head inside the mysterious windowless warehouse known around here as The G Spot. The big letter G in concrete relief stands for Punta G, translated in English means G spot.
I noticed new exterior lighting had been installed and a beehive of activity inside. When I inquired about all the action, in broken English, a worker promised "dancing and drinking coming soon" he said they'll open for business by the middle of this year. I'm so depressed at the thought of this place and the crowds it will bring.
Back in of May 2006, there was a mini-uproar when word spread that there was a strip club coming to the corner of 48th street and Barnett Avenue. It was on the TV news.
Just across the street, The Paradise Billiard Club is a popular spot for underage drinking. The pool hall rents out a private room for parties that are incredibly noisy and go on all night. I fear the TV cameras will be back one day to report news of a violent crime. This intersection is literally a disaster waiting to happen.
There are so many promising things happening in Sunnyside, so many young families everywhere. There's a children's park diagonally across from the G Spot. Even if the owners have backed away from the original plan to open a strip club, the G spot should not open as a disco. How can these low rent, sleazy nightclubs be allowed to spring up in a residential neighborhood? What can we do?
Monday, January 21, 2008
The Return of the G Spot
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48 comments:
i don't like having strip clubs in my hood any more than you do, but i accept that this is New York City, and there is going to be a certain amount of that kind of thing almost anywhere one goes in the city. If you want a suburban lifestyle, move there. New Jersey is waiting for You!
I personally welcome a little sleaze back to the neighborhood. Diversity-of people, bars, stores, restaurants- is what makes Sunnyside great. I agree with the comment above, I wouldn't want this neighborhood to become another Park Slope, or worse, the suburbs.
Sorry, I can't agree with either comment. I live right next to the pool hall and I am regularly woken up when it closes by yelling, fighting, even what sound like gun shots--in the winter with my windows closed. Also, the houses on our block have been broken into many, many more times since the pool hall opened. I don't think the choice is litter, crime, noise, sleaze or the suburbs. I think people can advocate for a good quality of life in their neighborhood without being told to put up or shut up (or move to NJ).
I won't welcome the G-Spot at all. Plus, it is a lousy location with no parking (unless the plan is to attract local foot traffic?). Maybe it will fail soon after opening...
I didn't realize there were no strip clubs in New Jersey. What wonderful news!
I doubt it is going to be the kind of place where rock stars quietly arrive and you'll never be disturbed by late night activity.
In Park Slope they would not "accept that this is New York City." They'd see that this is the kind of business that attracts crime and they'd fight it. That doesn't mean we want a suburban lifestyle or that we don't want diversity. You want diversity? Three stores in two blocks have closed recently: the Fast Break convenience store on 48th and QB, a Korean grocer on 49th and Roosevelt and Hollywood Video on 50th. And the only new thing opening is a strip club? How is that good for the neighborhood? Maybe one of them will become yet another drugstore or bank.
Hey gang of Sunnyside. Susan, actually, when I lived in Park Slope there was a hot-sheets hotel, the Lincoln Plaza "Hotel." Hookers, drugs, you name it. When I first moved in I thought it might be a place my parents could stay when they came into town. It was a gorgeous Victorian Mansion. It looked a little odd when I walked in. And then I asked how much for a night, and they said "30 dollars an hour." That sounded a little high, and I started doing the calculations - 12 hours sleep, check in check out... and I must have seemed right off the turnip truck finally after blinking a few times I went... "ooohhh." And the guy behind the desk nodded. "I'll just... uh... go."
This was right off of 7th Ave. And frankly, they were quiet neighbors.
HOWEVER - there's an area for this sort of thing, an industrial/ warehouse district in Western Sunnyside. There's already a big strip club there. There are LOTS of strip clubs in Queens Plaza, right near where the Rykers Bus lets out. Why the f--- do they have to move a GD strip club right across from the only private childrens' park in the frickin city?
As for the yelling in re: the pool hall... yeah, they have to take care of their house a lot better. I suggest we call 311 every time we see trash in their lot, every time we hear noise from that place. I don't mind a pool hall. It's, for the most part, cleanish fun for local teens. But Paradise is dropping the ball big time. *AND* their stupid rent-out parties are making it impossible to park a damn car.
Jeremy--
There are people w/kids who live near the industrial area. Not to mention a whole bunch of schools. Let's not make this just a NIMBY issue.
I'm confused. Most of the responses to this post seem to assume that G Spot will be a strip club. While that was the original plan for the space, the post seems to imply that it will now be a dance club. Does anyone know which it will be? It would change the nature of the debate.
I think it's awful that our peaceful neighborhood might have to suffer such an insidious addition. Near a children's park is no place for sleezy clubs and violent drunks! In fact, "adult entertainment" subjects woman and should have no place anywhere.
Kids play in the daytime. Adults play at night. They'll never see each other. Nothing to worry about.
I personally don't care if my kids have to walk near a strip club. I live in NYC. I live in Queens. And cripes, I live in the 21st century. By the time they're twelve, they'll be downloading porn holograms into our personal Illuso-Deck. I won't be able to protect their virgin eyes for long.
If you're living where the strip club is in Western Sunnyside, you're a taxi cab or a hot dog cart. It's totally a warehouse/industrial area. Not residential at all. Yes, I know not all of Western Sunnyside is like that. But Gallaghers is.
I don't want the trash, I don't want the noise, I don't want the parties. As a matter of fact, if it were a dance club it would be even worse. A couple of bachelors shamefully scuffling towards a few pole dancing nursing students or an entire meat market of gyrating drunks.
Okay, I don't know they're nursing students, but that was the uniform she was wearing.
oh... that area. yeah, that's a perfect place for a strip club.
It's not about the kids bumping into the strip/dance club goers since kids wont stay up late enough to see any action, but one important fact is that: first you see a pool hall opens, that allows underage drinking/fighting, then a dance/strip club like Punta G, next you will see maybe a porno shop, then the sleazy biz will move over to 47th street, or up to Skillman or right next to your house, and the sleazy factor will get larger and larger and the neighborhood is famous for being skanky. There are many sleazy biz near the tracks of course, over on Steinway too, but are those establishments standing across or next to a children's park? Dance club or strip club, same idea, not the actual dancing that would cause issues, it's the area that will slowly get "cooked" into a ugly gangland/sleazview. We cannot completely wipe out crimes or forbid people from opening their "businesses" but they certainly can be pushed as far away from where children play as possible. Sunnyside Gardens is landmarked right? Why cant someone(from upstairs) do something to keep the vincinity in checked?
Oh "the mother," I'm with you there. I just want to be on record as not being opposed to the types of business. And as a matter of fact, I don't mind the "NIMBY" argument. We have a lot of time, effort and money invested in this house and this neighborhood. Why shouldn't we fight for what's ours?
1) Send an email to Eric Gioia gioia@council.nyc.ny.us
2) Repeat above as needed. He's stopped G Spot before. *AND* He's not generally an alarmist, so when he talks people don't roll their eyes. No wolfcrying there.
Jeremy - finally a voice of reason. If you folks don't like something that is going on in the hood, WRITE TO GIOIA.
@ sunnyside mom: so, should we close down all the great irish bars in sunnyside too? You know, those "insidious" places with "violent drunks" staggering about (and yes, I've seen them)? Maybe we can all get some torches and get a good old fashioned mob together and BURN them out of Sunnyside!
This is a CITY! If you can't stand things that are generally present in a big city - bars, nightclubs, noise, drunks, trash - THEN MOVE SOMEWHERE ELSE. Do not turn Sunnyside into Maybury. And if you're pissed that a possible strip club is opening near a kids park ("OMG Think of the poor CHILDREN! Cover their EYES!") then do something about it rather than complaining on this blog - write to Gioia, organize, and put a stop to it.
"Noise drunks and trash" Well, Paul, I don't happen to agree with you there. We *don't* need to put up with it because we live in a city. If you want to open a strip club, you have to abide by the rules like everyone else. That means no crime (police), no drunks (we do have public drunkenness laws) and no trash (sanitation department). Quite frankly it's a very rare strip club that operates well as a business on a community level, so I understand the alarm.
I won't lie, of course I've been to strip clubs. Friends get married, bachelor parties happen, and you know, there's always some obnoxious guy to suggest partaking of the pole dance. Usually me. But let's be realistic here... this isn't going to be the Penthouse Club, which, has the best steak in town... even better than Lugers. I shit thee not.
But as for the spirit of the post, I agree with it entirely. There's a reason I'm not posting anonymously here, and that's because the libertarian in me is tired of the anonymous mob mentality. You think you're protecting your children with the torches and frankenstein rakes, but really, you're not. If we're calm about this there are all sorts of other reasons to stop this place besides "Protect the children!"
Every time I see that phrase, it chills me. When gay teachers came out in the burbs it was "what about the children?" I wanted to say, "#*!$ your children. I want mine to have a good teacher."
I'm a mother whose child uses the park in question. I don't object to the G Spot on her behalf but rather mine--I'm a frequent user of the 24-hour gym Pulse, which is right up the street, and often go in the dark, be it early morning or evening. Being a small woman (5'2") I'm already a little nervous when the streets are nearly empty and can only imagine that this is going to get worse, if the place ends up being a strip club or the kind of place that draws men only rather than couples. I accept that "this is New York City" but I don't accept that fear has to be a part of my life here. And for what it's worth, I'm not a silly little rabbit who easily gets spooked. There are better ways to make a neighborhood "edgy" if that's what we want.
Okay, here's what I saw after a small recce:
Their buildings permit says "eating drinking and dining" establishment. I, for one, don't want to give anyone who names their place "G-Spot" a cabaret license without a fight.
And sue me, but I want a place that serves the neighborhood, not pimped out SUVs, particularly not if the participants are in mating mode. You know fights happen, particularly at clubs. If it is (and I don't think it is) going to be a strip club, you KNOW it's not going to be people from the neighborhood. What pillar of our community would want to be seen walking in there, despite their God-given right to do so?
I agree with everything Aeve said. At their Community Board 2 meeting (which they have to have if they're applying for a liquor license) they'd better be ready.
A dance club on Barnett is a bad idea. That area is now the ONLY place to get parking spot after 10 in the neighborhood. If a dance club opens up, there will be no spaces left at all. Also, as a single woman, it will make parking my car a lot creepier.
Just FYI...I did write to Gioia and CB2 but no response from either.
I posted anonymously (the 3rd one) but Jeremy inspired me to come out from under my cloak.
I still think we need to keep a wary eye on the place and make sure whoever it is, with whatever plans, know this is a community that cares about the streets - their safety and, dare I say it, their cleanliness.
I thought it was you! Well I say we cut and paste this thread and send THAT to Gioia. I'll do the same from the thread on the yahoo group.
This post made the Queens Crap web site. Rock on!
Would love to know how much they are paying to rent out the space. I would love to take that space and turn it into a children's indoor playground, learning center, classes, baby shop, small cafe for moms. This neighborhood needs more children oriented businesses, it's one of fastest growing stroller communities and we dont even have a bookstore.
Absolutely! But keep space for the Daddy-moms.
Fastest growing "stroller community" lets not push the gentrification yuppifiying process any faster than it's already going, shall we? I can picture it already, 15 years from now when this blog is in whatever future-form it is, the posts will all be about the "crazy teenagers" driving too fast, hanging out, smoking and drinking, and how can we "control them".
"the mother" I appreciate you wanting a nice place for your kids to grow up, but the benefit of having them grow up in Queens is to be exposed to all sorts of people and places; not to grow up in a sterile Chuck-e-cheese environment where everyone is exactly like them.
The reason to live here is so you and your family can experience all the greatness and diversity the neighborhood has to offer, not to push out the natives and bussiness of ALL kinds to make it your idea of paradise. To some of us, it's paradise already!
Let me defend the "mother" for a second here. Yes, I agree that we don't want a gentrified yuppie community with 47 year olds shooting themselves so full of 'mones that they shoot out quadlets, hire four nannies and head back to the law office.
HOWEVER, currently there's a dearth of choices for the stay at home parent, particularly in the winter. "You can go to Starbucks, Chuck E. Cheese or you can stay the f*ck home, breeder." And that's not cool. Daphna had a nice place, her Rainbow Garden, but it didn't make the money in the summer. I'd like inexpensive places to take kids (NOT Chuck E. Cheese) *and* be greeted by our panoply of cultures and classes. Is that too much to ask?
"I'd like inexpensive places to take kids (NOT Chuck E. Cheese) *and* be greeted by our panoply of cultures and classes."
i believe kids can thrive when treated like people--the best way for kids to learn how to behave around adults is to be around adults. that doesn't mean turning the nabe into a kid-run playground. it means some places are for adults, some for kids, and some where parents can bring kids & be around people who don't have kids--like a bookstore, or a library. or even an art gallery--kids are absolutely able to enjoy that kind of thing w/o making things miserable for people w/o kids.
like madrid--people bring their kids everywhere & it's still very sophisticated.
though i am sad that we don't have an indoor play space. winter is long & lonely for a parent...
To Lynn:
Did I say that this community is becoming a "Yuppie scumbag pushing stroller community?" Having kids does not make you a yuppie or have massive strategic plans to take over the community or gentrify it ASAP.
Secondly, did I mention I want to hang out at Chucky Cheese? There is one already on Northern Blvd, thanks for offering, I have never been to one.
Thirdly, I SAID, there is a need for a bookstore, and I would love to offer a indoor playground, something that caters to mom/dad and such, I didnt say I want to wipe out local businesses and turn Sunnyside into my Kingdom!
Lastly, you seem to think that I am not a native and want to take over "Queens" and push out the "Normal people", please, dont judge and there is no need to spit venom due to your own insecurities, it is perfectly innocent to suggest things and hope for things especially these thoughts are based on a pure loving sake of our children, in your case, maybe you prefer to invite all kinds of strippers, crack smokers, criminals to have a block party on 48th street every month.
You've never been to a Chuck E. Cheese? Oh god... well, personally, I'm okay with them, since I can deal with the noise and the crowds. But don't go if you have a propensity to migraines.
@ mother:
Who's spitting venom now?
"maybe you prefer to invite all kinds of strippers, crack smokers, criminals to have a block party on 48th street every month."
You have obviously completely missed the point. You had said that Sunnyside is one of "the fastest growing stroller communities." Really? Because ever since I've lived here, I've always seen plenty of strollers and families and mothers and children. Up until about a year ago, most of the mothers happened to be Latina. So your comment has some tones of fastest growing white baby stroller community, which seems to delight you. I'm not trying to say that you are racist in any way, and I think there's been enough mudslinging, but I think that you have to realize that your tone sounds like you are happy that Sunnyside is getting more and more gentrified. I, for one, am not. Of course all of us want it to be a safe, clean, quiet community with book shops and something for everyone - children included. I think all I and I guess Lynn were saying is that I would never want that to happen at a cost of driving everyone else out of Sunnyside with higher rents, etc. There are plenty of solid "stroller communities" out there - Park Slope, Upper West Side, and I hear Long Island and NJ have lots of family-friendly towns with playgrounds, book shops, etc. Sunnyside is in NYC. We all live with a certain amount of crap we don't like when we choose to live in NYC, and if you can't deal with it then maybe living in a large urban area is not the place for you. Please don't go trying to change the feel of the neighborhood because there are plenty of people - many of whom were here long before you or me - who like it just the way it is. And it's pretty damn nice the way it is! It's not like we live in East New York and people are getting shot every day.
@ annie: I couldn't agree with you more.
Paul,
You Said:
"So your comment has some tones of fastest growing white baby stroller community, which seems to delight you."
YOU are the one who is confused and misunderstood.
I AM A CHINESE Mother, not a white woman, I am not a yuppie, I am a stay at home mother, who is talking about white babies and who is delighted to push people out of this community? What tone do you mean? I did not realize I am so talented that I can "SOUND like a white woman with a WHITE BABY".
I did not realize that back in 1927, there were PUNTA G and such clubs around.
Adding a bookstore is changing the feel of a community? Why dont you go to Starbucks and protest when they first opened?
Oh BTW, do I sound Chinese today or you think tomorrow I might talk like I have a white baby?
Excuse me for wanting to have a bookstore or a indoor playground, I guess most people you know prefer Punta G or Punta Crack, porn shops, we really need more of those businesses because so many people in this neighborhood frequent places like that.
Goodness gracious!
I bet we'd all agree that the Sunnyside we dream of lands somewhere in between Times Square circa Midnight Cowboy & Kid Nation, right?
This neighborhood needs an indoor play space more than it needs a strip club.
What this neighborhood doesn't need? I can think of a few things:
-a homogeneous population
-more crime
-more drugstores
-higher rents
-less civic pride
-less neighborhood solidarity
-delivery bikes on the sidewalk
But more than anything, bookstore/cafe where adults & kids can coexist in peace would bring the neighborhood together.
Or a community center that doesn't look like a prison.
I say we take torches to Aviation High & bring in a Barnes & Noble.
I'm surprised that there are Sunnysiders who think they are living in some sort of "keeping-it-real" gritty, New York. Sunnyside has been a slightly run-down--albeit pleasant and ethnically diverse--residential neighborhood for years. It's never been a locus of urban grittiness, and places like Punta G have never been part of its landscape. If it can go from slightly run-down to nice, what's wrong with that?
“The mother” is correct. There are tons of families with young children in Sunnyside and very few businesses to accommodate them. There are no daycares for children under Preschool age, only a couple of Preschools (certainly not enough for the number of families), no toy stores or children clothing stores, and no indoor playgrounds. Even our subway stations lack elevators, so a parent needing to visit those businesses in another neighborhood must contend with carrying a heavy stroller up and down the subway stairs.
Lynn and Paul: I am sorry if our desire for bookstores and child-friendly places interferes with your fantasy of urban Sunnyside grit. Nevertheless, as a resident who also happens to be a parent, I reserve my right to desire changes in my neighborhood that will benefit me.
@ Paul Grove
"There are plenty of solid "stroller communities" out there - Park Slope, Upper West Side... Sunnyside is in NYC."
Last I checked, Park Slope and the Upper West Side were in NYC too.
Honestly, Paul and Lynne. Could you be more tedious and predictable? So there are people with children living in the neighborhood who want to enjoy it. Who says we are trying to push out local, independent businesses? But wait, where are the local independent businesses I and my family want to support? There are a few: Stray for shopping. Quaint, Aubergine and Bliss for eating. Oops, those are all new places, so I must be pro-gentrification. But wait, they are owned by Sunnysiders, so they are local. Locally owned = good. Therefore, bring on this kind of gentrification!
It's because I DON'T want to go to Chuck E. Cheese that I want more kid-friendly places in Sunnyside--note I said not kid-oriented, but kid-friendly. Why should I have to trek to Manhattan or Forest Hills to buy a child's birthday present, hang out in a cool bookshop, or buy a decent cupcake?
And for the record, I have nothing against the bars in the neighborhood. They are community institutions. And I'm not opposed to Punta G because I want to protect my child; as has been said by others here before, I am concerned about the increase in trash and the noise. Just because we are urban doesn't mean we have to be filthy. That's a fallacy. Lots of great cities aren't filled with litter and dog crap; there is no need for trash anywhere.
Don't tell me to move to suburbia because I want to see less trash and better restaurants. I've been in this neighborhood 15 years and it seems to keep getting better. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for more improvements. And if that's too much for you, maybe you should look into some real estate near Queensborough Plaza. There's lots of trash, quite a few strip clubs, and don't forget the allure of recently released prisoners. No gentrification there yet!
Well said Rachelle and Latina Mami!
I thought we are discussing Punta G but obviously, some of us are interested in attacking people with children, comparing who'beeen here longer and who should get the hell out, not to mention lots of mention of Chunky E Cheese for some odd reasons. I dare not use the words "Stroller Community" because to some people that means white people with white babies, bring up the word Gentrifying and you get Player Haters all worked up.
Let's get back to the subject and leave the kids alone.
If you love Sunnyside as much as I do, you wont be giving the kids such a hard time, Sunnyside is full of KIDS and PETS and FAMILIES, that is why I live here! If you dont have kids, that's cool too, I wont go and bark at you as anti-breeders. How about if I start changing the subject and moan about people with pets crapping all over the hood and only clean part of their mess? Should I tell them to move to the burbs where a dog could run free and happy instead of being stucked in a one bedroom apt??(I am only saying this to those who dont clean their pets' crap) But let's not go there, in case, someone will confuse me as a white land owner, Starbucks lover.
Sunnyside Farm is for sale, those who are pro urban grit might want a porn shop there, Godforbid if a bookstore opens there instead.
Here's another large space for rent:
The former pharmacy on 46th and Skillman (now on 48th and Skillman).
And personally, I think it's a dubious (and I'm sure accidental) notion to posit that only white families want quiet, clean streets. I'm not throwing stones at any one person, of course. I'm just saying that I think we should be careful, lest we engage in Clintonian race baiting.
Whew...back to civility!
Wait...Sunnyside Gardens Farms on 46th and Skillman is for sale? Or are you talking about someplace else?
Anyone know what is happening with that demolished temple behind the church on 45th between 43rd ave and skillman?
What do you think? "Luxury" Condos.
Punta G is applying for a liquor license. I got this note from a member of Community Board 2:
New Liquor License Application At Premises 47-15 Barnett Avenue, Sunnyside, NY
The applicant will be making a presentation of their intentions to the Board's City Services And Public Safety Committee at its regularly scheduled monthly meeting on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 at 7:00 pm at the Board office located at 43-22 50th Street, Sunnyside, NY.
im sorry for the people that thought its going to be a strip club ...but its not...its going to be a bar loung ...and for the people who were woried maybe u should clean the sides of the park and fix the roads insted of hearing the dum community board talk about thing that are not true.. maybe consintrate on bettering sunnyside..and befor u geeks talk agin u should go out and not stay at home reading books for hours and then wach the lord of the ring triligy cuz we all know thats wat u doo with ur pants up high..now go ahead and correct my spelling ...stop being so uptight.. by the way parents news flash ur kids are most likely to grow up and listen to rap music and start cursing ...and guss where they learn it AT HOME.... ps dont be ofended from the truth..
people are so tuchy O MY GOD A STRIP CLUB...dont act like u havent f8cked yet act like an adult .... first find out the fact instead of the lies...and for the parents stop acting like ur kids are going to die if they see a pair of tits stop sheltering them so much...now timmy santa is real and the tuth fairy too..and girls also rated R movies are bad for u so timy dont go near them... sh1t stop being and acting that way....
Thank you for your honest, thoughtful, perfectly spelled and grammatically checked comments.
With good people like you in our neighborhood, I'm positively elated for the the future of the community, thrilled by the state of our educational system.
signed,
ur frend the grammer five-oh. L0L
PS: Am I the only one who's got the stones to publicly, not anonymously, state he's been to strip clubs?
PPS: When does some genius get rich off opening an overpriced baby clothing store? When does some hippy-yuppie BoBo get to support her poetry performance career by opening the equivalent of Park Slope's Boing Boing? Skillman's fine spaces await. Yarnistas? Mommies? Anyone?
The last 2 anonymous comments are very entertaining, did one of the "nerds" decide to pretend to be a bad spelling, trash talking contributors?
So true, if you are proud watching porno and and rap curse words and spell poorly, your kids will learn it too, from YOU.
For those of you that care about the truth the g spot is now call cali bar. It was never intended to be a strip club. It will be a beutiful place where everyone in the community can enjoy themselves. People please get your fact before making staments that can damage a families reputation . Stop listening to the people with political agendas, do what I did visit the place and see for your selves the owner welcomes everyone
As the ex-wife of the owner of cali bar ( g spot) I can asure everyone that he never intended to open on adult club. He is a family oriented man. He use the name g spot because is a famous bar restaurant in spain that reminded him of his childhood. He owns that beuilding for 8 years now and has work really hard to improve the block. He also owned La fonda in Astoria for many years.
He has tryed to be nice to everyone,when he realize some people found the name to be ofensive he change it. He has the right to open his bar restaurant and he will.
at this point everyone knows is not s strip club, but it does not matter to them they just want to avoid having a bar/lounge own by a spanish person. this is all about race. we can try to hide it but is there. i have news for you we will fight. the own has the right to open his bar he does not need the approval of the community board. all the bad information given to the politicians will be corrected.
I want to hear more about the luxury condos coming on 45th Street. does anyone know anything about them.
What are some thoughts of how the new condos Citiview and Pheonix effected the neighborhood
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