Reported social club on Milwaukee Ave. in Gladstone Park ordered closed; police break up party at warehouse on Northwest Hwy.

by BRIAN NADIG

In the Gladstone Park area a social club at 5679 N. Milwaukee Ave. and a reported party inside a warehouse at 5520 N. Northwest Hwy. were shut down earlier this month due to licensing issues.

The city Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection on Saturday, April 8, issued five citations and five cease and desist orders to the social club on Milwaukee, according to the department.

The citations included alleged public place of amusement and liquor-tavern license violations, failure to display licenses and indoor smoking, the department said in a statement.

“There were seven kiosk/coupon machines and two poker-type tables with cards and cash … present at the establishment,” the department said.

Also in the area, a crowd inside the warehouse on Northwest Highway dispersed at about 11 p.m. Sunday, April 2, after officers arrived to investigate a noise complaint, according to 16th (Jefferson Park) District police.

A woman who was outside the party was taken to a local hospital because she appeared to be heavily intoxicated and was falling in and out of consciousness, police said.

The caller of the noise complaint met with the responding officers and told them that there have been other loud incidents at the warehouse, police said.

Officers reported that inside the warehouse there was a smell of marijuana, tobacco wrappers and empty beer cans and that people were leaving the building through a rear exit and heading north toward Bryn Mawr Avenue, police said.

Officers also reported that they talked to a DJ who told them he had been hired for the party, police said.

No building permits or fire safety equipment could be seen inside the warehouse, police said.

Two citations were issued to the building’s owner, police said. The incident was classified by police as a “licensing violation.”

In late 2021 the 16th District announced a crackdown on unlicensed club-activity following the fatal shooting of a 19-year-old woman outside an illegal social club near Central and Lawrence avenues in Jefferson Park.

Last month a reported unlicensed social club at 6841 W. Addison St. was ordered closed after police allegedly found a gun with no visible serial number, about 30 grams of suspected marijuana and drug-related equipment there. Cease and desist orders were issued to the establishment, the department said.

Also, in early 2022 the city ordered a reported social club at 4827-31 W. Irving Park Road at Six Corners closed due to licensing issues, and earlier this year the city issued cease and desist orders in connection with a reported party at 5941 W. Lawrence Ave.