Liquor license pulled at Larry's Nightclub

This happened down the street from where my magic shop used to be. A neighborhood plagued with problems. This is also near the Fenix Underground where I perform on Fri. & Sat. Nights. Think this makes people want to go to Pioneer Square? Me neither.

By Jennifer Sullivan
Seattle Times staff reporter

Seattle police and state agents pulled the liquor license at Larry's Nightclub in Seattle's Pioneer Square and removed all liquor Friday night, saying the business was putting people's lives at risk.

Police and agents who arrived about 7:45 p.m. stopped people from entering the club while confiscating the liquor, said bartender Jeff Stine. By 9:30 p.m., all liquor and beer had been removed, Stine said.

Liquor-control agents served owner Larry Culp with an emergency-suspension notice enacted "for the protection, welfare, health, peace, morals and safety of the State of Washington," the notice says. Culp said he notified his lawyer and plans to go before a judge next week.

The suspension comes nearly a week after a man told police he was stabbed on the dance floor of the club. The man's head and face were "covered in blood" when he left the club early Dec. 31, said police spokesman Rich Pruitt.

The man was stabbed in the chest about 1:25 a.m. during a fight and reported what happened to police officers patrolling a block from the club, Pruitt said.

Assistant police Chief Nick Metz said the man's condition is unknown, but the department's homicide unit is investigating.

Culp and Stine said they were a few feet away when the fight broke out toward the back of the club. They said the brawl was over in less than two minutes, and bouncers threw the men out. About 20 minutes later, Culp and Stine heard from another club patron that someone was stabbed during that fight, though Culp and Stine said they didn't see a stabbing.

"I'm still not convinced it happened," Culp said Friday night from inside his empty business. "I think we're being picked on and discriminated" against.

Culp said he believes police, Pioneer Square residents and business owners are targeting him because of the media attention cast on the bar after an Oct. 17 fight involving Seattle Seahawks safety Ken Hamlin.

That night, someone apparently used a metal street sign to smash Hamlin in the head during a fight outside the nightclub. Hamlin suffered a fractured skull, a blood clot on the brain and a broken hand. Police still cannot say whether the beating is linked to the slaying of a man who was at the club that night. Culp, who said his family has owned the business for nearly 20 years, angrily paced the dance floor Friday night, vowing to fight the closure. He said he plans to keep the nightclub open this weekend but will not serve liquor in compliance with the order.