Kansas City club Rendezvous Lounge has a license revoked, forced to close at 1 a.m.
Correction: This story has been corrected to say Rendezvous Lounge had one of its licenses revoked, forcing the club to now close at 1 a.m., rather than 3 a.m.
After a series of fights, gunfire and a fatal shooting, the Kansas City Liquor Control Board of Review on Monday revoked one of Rendezvous Lounge’s licenses, forcing the club to close at 1 a.m..
Earlier this year, the city’s Regulated Industries division had sought to have the club’s liquor license revoked out of concern for public safety. There had been two shooting incidents at the club, located at 11816 Blue Ridge Blvd. in south Kansas City.
Several board members expressed concern that the club’s owner had not implemented a plan that would prevent fights and gun violence in the parking lot and nearby. Revoking the club’s license will force it to close at 1 a.m, whereas it was previously allowed to stay open until 3 a.m.. The club, however, will continue to operate.
Quincy Clark, the club owner, said Monday that he plans to appeal the board’s vote.
“It wasn’t fair. I wasn’t given a warning,” Clark told The Star afterward. “I feel every time it is a Black-owned establishment, they want to shut it down. Especially, when there is so much stuff happening in Westport and at the Power & Light District. The severity is not the same.”
On March 14, dozens of officers responded to a shooting outside the club. They found one man who had been shot in the face. He was taken to an area hospital. Several vehicles and the club were struck by bullets. No one else was hurt, police said at the time.
The shooting started after two fights broke out inside the club as it was closing, according to police. Security guards tried to break them up with pepper spray, and the fights then spilled out into the parking lot, which may have also contributed to a car crash on Blue Ridge Boulevard.
After the crash, several people started shooting at one another. Two of the alleged shooters were arrested. Investigators found roughly 100 spent shell casings that came from five firearms, police said.
It was the second shooting reported outside the club within the past few months.
In early November, police investigated the killing of Raymond Douglas, 31, who was shot multiple times outside, near the club as closed for the night.
Clark said it cost him about $12,000 to hire off-duty Kansas City police officers to work security at his club over a three-day weekend.
Police block off streets on the weekends at Westport and the 18th and Vine Jazz District to handle the large crowds, he said.
Clark said that during the hearing a board member unfairly compared the incidents at his club with violence at 9ine Ultra Lounge, the site of a mass shooting in January 2020. Two people were killed and at least 15 others were reported wounded outside the nightclub, located in the 4800 block of Noland Road.
“They’re not supposed to be doing that. I am not the owner of the 9ine Ultra Lounge,” Clark said. “They’ve never had anyone from the community, or the police or anything, had a complaint before.”
In November, the city revoked 9ine Ultra Lounge’s liquor license. City officials cited a pattern of violence at that nightclub over an extended period.
This story was originally published July 19, 2021 at 12:11 PM.
