Dark Room goes dark
A nuisance abatement action by the Police Department’s Civil Enforcement Division resulted in the padlocking of The Dark Room, a bar and lounge at 165 Ludlow St. at about 10 p.m. Fri. Sept. 2 for selling alcohol to underage patrons.
The temporary restraining order remains in effect until a Civil Court hearing on Sept. 8, according to Gabriel Taussig, administrative law chief of the city Law Department.
The Dark Room, between Houston and Stanton Sts., is where Mellie Nichol Carballo, 18, became acquainted with Roberto Martinez, who on Aug. 12 invited her to a party in the Lillian Wald Houses where Carballo and her friend, Marta Pesantez, 18, were found unconscious on Aug. 12 and died a few hours later of heroin overdose. Martinez and his friend, Alfredo Morales, a resident of the Wald Houses apartment where the women had passed out, were later charged with drug violations.
The Dark Room has a reputation as a place where patrons can score drugs and where minors can buy drinks, according to neighbors.
Subway flashing
Dan Hoyt, 43, co-owner of Quintessence, a raw food restaurant on E. 10th St. at First Ave., was arraigned in Criminal Court on Sept. 1 on four counts of lewd behavior on charges that he exposed himself to women riders on an R train on Aug. 19.
One of the women victims in the Aug. 19 incident snapped a photo, which appeared in the Daily News, with her cell phone camera. The photo prompted six women to identify the image with a man who flashed them at the Eighth St. N/R station in the Village in the past few months.
Judge Neil Ross released Hoyt on $5,000 bail posted by Tolentin Chan, his business partner and former wife. Hoyt had been convicted in 1994 in connection with misdemeanor lewd behavior at the Eighth St. station. If convicted, Hoyt is subject to up to three months in jail.
Crowe case
The civil lawsuit by Nestor (Josh) Estrada against the film star Russell Crowe regarding an assault on June 6 in The Mercer, the hotel at 147 Mercer St., has been settled, according to a spokesperson for the actor.
Crowe, who was staying at the hotel, was charged with throwing a telephone at Estrada, a desk clerk, after Estrada failed to connect the actor’s call to his family in Australia. The settlement, confirmed last week by Robert Baum, spokesperson for Crowe, is in the “low six figures,” according to a Daily News article.
Crowe also faces felony assault charges in connection with the case, which is scheduled for a Sept. 14 Criminal Court hearing. Court sources said a plea to a misdemeanor charge is possible at that time. A felony conviction could bar the actor from working in the U.S.
Albert Amateau
