When an upscale neighborhood committee tells an upscale black lounge that they don't need a liquor license because you don't need a martini when you're eating Chitlins... what is one to think? 

My writing life is pretty consistent.  The bulk of work happens between 7am and 3pm.  Then I grab the backpack, head into the Big Apple's cultural and social terrain and bump heads with my folks who like to think big and do it up with style.  So it's no surprise I can be found in some back corner of some funky new lounge sipping on something mellow and trying to gear conversation away from the topical Top 40 and into something that challenges how we live on the uh... personal-politcal-cultural front. 

Which slides me into this:  I've recently discovered this new spot in Soho called Lola. A downtown Manhattan upscale swank catering to the neo-Buppie and all of his or her doctor-lawyer friends.  It's not my ideal atmosphere [I tend to smooze in a more artsy scene], but I was surprised to hear they had no liquor license.  That this specific clientele was being asked to chill without a chiller.  Well, Chloe A. Hilliard wrote an article in this week's Village Voice that exposes the crazy behind Lola's lack of liquor flow. 

Hilliard reveals that the Soho Alliance, a community action group, has little tolerance for the liquor license crowd.  Apparently, the area in Soho where Lola resides has been inundated recently with new, hip spots to drink and lounge.  However, in the case of Lola, folks are crying racism. Why?  Well, Soho Alliance director Sean Sweeney has been very critical about Lola's need for a liquor license.  Allegedly, he's gone on record to say:  "I don't think you need a martini to go with chitlins and collard greens."  And... What type of wine pairs with Jambalaya?  He's even been accused of spearheading an aggressive anti-Lola campaign:  somebody's been posting anti-Lola flyers all over Soho.

Many of Lola's supporters believe the neighborhood group is concerned the martini-drinking black crowd will get rowdy and spill violence into the street because that's what martini-drinking professional black folks do on Hump Day.  Get lit and create lots of ruckus just to irritate The Man.

It's pretty ridiculous to me that any establishment is expected to exist without liquor on the shelf.  Especially in NYC where folks will spend twenty dollars for a Ginger Beer Mojito.  But I am suspect and disturbed by the Soho Alliance's aggressive stance against Lola's.  It seems we're always watched, accessed and policed.  It's just a sad state of affairs when the image of professional black people chilling and listening to music garners so much outrage.  Honestly, if the spot is lucky it may be around for a year. 

I've attached Chloe Hilliard's article for your perusal.