Bar rejected for liquor license
By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Honolulu Liquor Commission yesterday rejected a request to reinstate the license of a Hotel Street bar, which authorities said was a hub of drug activity in Chinatown and a "trash magnet."
Angeline Sung, president of Paradise Lost at 24 North Hotel St., on May 10 asked the commission to cancel her liquor license, a request that was granted by the liquor administrator. Three days later, however, Sung had a change of heart and requested that the cancellation be rescinded.
Yesterday, the commission heard blistering testimony from about 10 downtown residents and law-enforcement officials who pleaded with the commissioners to withhold the license. They testified that Paradise Lost was the center of drug and other illegal activities, which the bar owner ignored.
Honolulu police moved last month to seize two Chinatown buildings, including the one housing Paradise Lost, by notifying the buildings' owners that illegal activities were occurring on their properties. The move has been hailed by the Nu'uanu Merchants Association members who have been fighting against drug dealers and users.
Sung did not speak during the hearing, but she said later that she was not aware of the alleged illegal activity in her bar.
"People come inside my bar and they like drink, and I serve them. I don't know what this one do or this one do. How I know?" Sung said. She declined further comment.
Sgt. Stacey Kapeliela, with Honolulu Police Department's narcotics/vice division, told the commission that police responded to 170 complaints at Paradise Lost in about a year and a half. The complaints included drug distribution, robberies, assaults and sexual assaults.
"Paradise Lost is the hub of all (drug) distribution in that area of Hotel and Nu'uanu," Kapeliela said. "That is where all the major drug dealers, the generals, house themselves."
He said a person could enter the bar and get all types of drugs within five minutes.
Kapeliela said the last time officers raided the bar, Sung told him she didn't want to run the establishment any longer.
"She told me, 'I give up. I had enough of this already,'" Kapeliela said.
Since the bar shut down in May, he added, the drug dealers have been seeking another home base. In the meantime, Kapeliela said, they are roaming the streets.
City Deputy Prosecutor Cecelia Chang, a community prosecutor who focuses on high-crime neighborhoods, said Paradise Lost "is a classic nuisance establishment."
"It's a trash magnet. It draws criminals from other areas of the island to one area, concentrating it in a neighborhood so that that neighborhood is oppressed," Chang said. "It chases away legitimate business and it chases people who would spend money and bring investment to the area."
Allen Stack Jr., who owns property across from Paradise Lost, said the bar was like a 24-hour drive-through drug operation.
"It's hard to find tenants," Stack said. "It's hard for customers to the restaurants to walk on that side of the street because they get accosted by the drug people."
After nearly one hour of testimony, the four commissioners said they did not have the authority to rescind the license cancellation and they denied the request. But the commissioners said Sung could always apply for a new license.
Reach Curtis Lum at 525-8025 or culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.
