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State not real happy with Allston club over underage drinking

Garage, part of the Russian Benevolent Society complex on Linden Street, next week begins the second of its third state-ordered shutdowns this year for a series of incidents in which investigators found underage drinkers enjoying adult beverages they got with fake driver's licenses.

The state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission ordered the society - once a quiet place where Russian emigres gathered on weekends for a drink with old friends, but now also a club that makes regular appearances before city and state licensing boards - to close between May 10 and May 19 for an incident in April of 2016.

State liquor investigators reported finding four people between 18 and 20 with champagne and vodka cranberry drinks at Garage, which bills itself as "Allston's #1 nightclub."

One had a fake Argentine driver's license, but said he'd never had to show it since he was a regular, according to an investigator's report. The 18-year-old, who had a fake Rhode Island license, whined to investigators it was unfair they were picking on her because "there were people in the establishment who were 16."

The report notes that investigators called Uber cars to transport the kids home and demanded the club manager do the same for "several youthful appearing individuals who displayed signs of intoxication, including falling down," but who did not have drinks in their hands.

Earlier, the commission had ordered the society to shut between April 12 and April 27 for a Sept. 11 incident involving seven drinkers between 18 and 20, all of whom were observed mixed vodka drinks and all of whom had "false" driver's licenses.

The club faces an additional three-day suspension next month because of another incident in April 2016, in which investigators found an 18-year-old with a Corona Light and a fake Maryland license.

All three of the suspensions have additional shutdown times should the club get in trouble again over the next couple of years.

Neighborhoods: 
AttachmentSize
PDF icon April suspension notice187.24 KB
PDF icon May suspension notice187.24 KB
PDF icon June suspension notice165.35 KB


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Comments

If only anyone could have seen this coming when they first applied for a license.

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Teaching every generation of college-educated Americans to lie, in pursuit of pleasure. Doesn't seem like a good idea.

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Sneaking culture - and it isn't just pleasure, it is social opportunity privilege that every other adult over 19 in every other western country (including Canada) enjoys.

So, we are either doing such a shitty job of raising our kids that they can't handle a younger drinking age, or they can handle a younger age and we are teaching them that arbitrary morality laws that lack sense are made to be broken.

Of the 190 countries with known drinking ages, these are the countries with high drinking ages (21+)
Côte d'Ivoire
Equatorial Guinea
Iraq
Kiribati
Micronesia
Mongolia
Nauru
Oman
Palau
Samoa
Sri Lanka
United States
(plus a few countries like Pakistan that only permit alcohol to be sold to non-Muslims).

A look at more reasonable comparison countries with lower drinking ages indicates that Canada and the US have similar drunk driving death proportions (34% of accidents vs. 31% - Australia and New Zealand also have 31% per IRTAD 2015).

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that place is recipe for disaster

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Hasn't someone literally already been shot outside of it? Nothing potential here.

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its a bad spot, rough neighborhood, bottleneck street near bridges and highway. plus the evil Charles river is nearby which means the smiley face killer could be watching.

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Get Ben Affleck working with Mel Brooks - it would make a hell of a spoof thriller!

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But seriously, a fake Argentine driver's license. How could anyone, bar staff or police, tell it's legit? Would it work in Buenos Aires?

The website video is so damn trashy, like it is designed to appeal to Russian mobsters.

I want to go before it is shuts down.

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Is this also where the bathhouse is located?

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It closed a few years ago. It was shut down by the city for health violations, not sure if it ever re-opened after that.

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I know it's legally irrelevant here but I think it's worth pointing out that EVERY SINGLE PERPETRATOR IN THIS SITUATION IS A LEGAL ADULT IN THE UNITED STATES!!!

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1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington DC so therefore these scurrilous charges are preempted?

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