BY JORDAN MUTO | The West Village’s popular Christopher St. drag queen bar Boots N Saddle has finally found a new home.
Boots N Saddle’s owners appeared before Community Board 2’s State Liquor Authority Licensing Committee on Tuesday to seek approval for a liquor license at the former Actors Playhouse at 100 A Seventh Ave. South, between Grove and Barrow Sts.
The new space was a suggestion by the community board after the bar failed to get liquor licenses approved for two other locations in the neighborhood.
The new space allows the bar to more than double its current capacity. Boots N Saddle plans to continue at the new venue with its nightly drag queen shows. The bar is also pursuing adding a food menu served by drag queens à la the former Lucky Cheng’s.
“We will have more space, so more people can come. If you get in here with 80 people, it’s elbow to elbow,” said Robert Ziegler, co-owner of Boots N Saddle.
The new space also brings a new co-owner, Sandy Kauffman, a longtime patron of the bar and friend of co-owners Ziegler and Ron Silver, in order to help operate the larger establishment.
“It will be the same old Boots, but more opportunities for more people,” Kauffman said.
One of the concerns was people on the street, mentioned Robert Ely, co-chairperson of the State Liquor Authority Licensing Committee. The liquor licensing committee supported the new location as long as the bar controlled the crowds with three security guards.
The setup of the underground old Actor’s Playhouse space will keep all of the bar’s activities below street level, assuaging neighbor’s previous concerns of noise and rowdiness.
“Personally, I think it will be great because it’s underground,” said Lois Rakoff, a member of the C.B. 2 committee.
Rakoff was also concerned about the drag queens smoking cigarettes on the street in costume. But Ziegler assured her they would have a roped-off smoking area to accommodate eight to 10 smokers at a time.
Unlike the previous meetings where many community members were in attendance, Tuesday’s meeting only had two people voice their concerns.
“I feel dubious about all of the promises because they were not lived up to on Christopher St.,” said Dave Poster, president of the Christopher St. Patrol, a volunteer anticrime group.
Poster said he actually was not initially planning on attending Tuesday’s meeting, but felt compelled to attend after encountering rowdy crowds on the sidewalk near Boots N Saddle twice last Friday night.
“I come home late at night on the subway and never have any qualms about walking down the street,” said Nancy Paisley, who has lived at 36 Barrow St. for the past 40 years, in reference to Seventh Ave. South. “I don’t want to walk down Christopher St. because I’m afraid to,” she added.
Despite the concerns, the committee approved the liquor license for the new space. As Boots N Saddles co-owners Ziegler and Silver exited the meeting, the group supporting the bar cheered.
“It feels like a weight off my back,” Ziegler said. “It feels so great.”
Boots N Saddle will stay open at 76 Christopher St. until its new location is ready for occupancy early next year.
The next step is for the liquor license application to go in front of the full board for approval at it meeting on Nov. 20.
“We still have some bureaucratic hoops to go through,” Ziegler said. “Over all, it’s good for us.”
