Is the Asylum Bar an Illegal Operation?

EAST ATLANTA — When the Asylum opened in July of 2012, it promised to be a place where patrons could let out their madness.

But the only people who seem to be going crazy appear to be neighbors who complain the bar at 543/551 Flat Shoals Ave. SE has been nothing but a nuisance establishment since opening its doors.

Now, at least one city official says the bar may be operating illegally because it lacks a city-issued liquor license, which is required along with a state permit to be in compliance.

That official, Stephanie Ramage, who is the Citizens' Advocate at City Hall, said at least one city agency is investigating the bar and its various licensing issues.

"License and permits is continuing an ongoing investigation into that establishment," Ramage said Tuesday at the June meeting of the East Atlanta Community Association.

Her announcement follows an experience Ramage said she had at 1 a.m. this past Sunday morning while at the Midway Pub, a bar located across the street from Asylum.

"The manager from the Asylum — across the street — walked over and invited me and everyone at my table to come over," Ramage said. "The party, he said, was going to get started at 3 o'clock and $10 would buy us all the beer we could drink."

At 3 a.m., she said people began filing into the bar and counted roughly 200 people partying it up, even though last pour in the city is 2:30 a.m.

The bar was cited for serving alcohol after hours, she said.

Brian Michael Sawyer, who opened the bar and is an owner, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday, but the Asylum is no stranger to controversies with respect to liquor.

The neighborhood contends Asylum shouldn't be able to sell so-called hard alcohol such as vodka and whiskey and have live entertainment because the structure is within 300 feet of a home on nearby Stokeswood Avenue SE.

Doing so, neighborhood says, violates city ordinances. (The 300-foot distance and live entertainment rule doesn't apply to licensees selling beer and wine only.)

Asylum has maintained it is in compliance and that the community's measurements are wrong because distance should be measured from front door to front door, not the actual physical distance of the nearest point between his establishment and the Stokeswood Avenue home.

Still, the bar has come under fire recently for its business practices.

At least three nearby homeowners told East Atlanta Patch they saw patrons leaving the bar at 6, 7 and 8 a.m. in the mornings during the week in the past month.

On May 31, a Patch reporter saw patrons openly drinking from cans of beer in the East Atlanta Village Farmers Market's parking lot. Later that night, an Asylum patron came out of one of the bar's entrances, riding a scooter into the street.

Residents have become increasingly concerned because of fears that an "anything goes" atmosphere could lead to increased criminal activity and reduced quality of life.

The heightened concerns come amidst a wave of violent crime that has gripped East Atlanta in recent weeks, including two murders, a carjacking and several armed robberies.

Indeed, the argument for tackling problem establishments to maintain quality of life is something residents in Kirkwood and Inman Park have faced.

In Kirkwood, the Kirkwood Bar & Grill, residents said, failed to comply with a number of local zoning codes specific to that neighborhood and the homeowner's association in the development where it was an anchor tenant. They also said the restaurant, which twice failed its health inspections, was a magnet for crime.

Following a number of complaints to City Hall and several lawsuits, Kirkwood Bar & Grill closed for good earlier this month.

Park’s Edge, a restaurant in Inman Park, left residents there on edge because of a host of issues that ranged from selling alcohol without a license, to loud music blaring from the patio to its valets blocking nearby homeowners' driveways or telling them they couldn't park their vehicles in front of their own homes.

The restaurant's troubles, which also included two failed health inspections, garnered it a spot on the "Kitchen Nightmares" Fox series last year.

But that didn't help it, ultimately. Victory Sandwich Bar, which also is in Inman Park, is moving into the Park's Edge space on Bernina Avenue NE later this summer.

SEE ALSO:

• UPDATED: Driver Hits Pedestrians at Asylum
• Man Robbed at Gunpoint in East Atlanta Village
• Asylum's Liquor License Hearing Delayed
• Asylum Takes New Direction
• In Response To: The Asylum's Liquor License Controversy
• Distance Dispute Puts Asylum At Odds With NPU-W Over Liquor License
• Would You Spend $100 for a Pizza Pie?
• Asylum Restaurant Opens in East Atlanta
• From Echo Lounge To Asylum