Illicit pandemic parties and raves have been happening across the city since the summer, which in part prompted the state to form a specific task force to bust any venues hosting events that didn't abide by the state's COVID guidelines. This weekend alone, the Sheriff's Office broke up two overstuffed Halloween parties at warehouses located in the Bronx and Brooklyn which each had well over 400 people in attendance. But those weren't the only such pandemic parties happening in recent days — Williamsburg locals tell Gothamist that for weeks now, huge parties have been taking place inside a venue at 60 North 1st Street, bringing hundreds of maskless people to the area several times a week.
"I’m a New Yorker, not only do I put up with music and noise and whatnot, I kinda enjoy it," said John Donson, who lives close to the venue and asked that we use a pseudonym for fear of retaliation. "I enjoy my neighborhood being alive, but over the last month or so it's gotten crazy. At least two or three times a week there's some big event over there. If you stood on the block for 20 minutes in the evening when one of these events is happening, you’d know hundreds of people are inside, based on foot traffic on the block alone."
Donson said that initially, people in the neighborhood shrugged off the events because they only happened occasionally. But in October, "it's gotten to another level of extremity, and the character of it has changed. The neighborhood has gotten more worked up about it." He said that in addition to complaints about noise throughout the night, people have started lingering on stoops, breaking bottles, and banging on neighbors' windows.
The space used to house the Harry Potter-themed restaurant Pasta Wiz, which went out of business, and has since been partially converted into music recording and rehearsal studios. The rest of it is apparently rented out as an event space. City records list the owner as one Aliza Guttman, and there are several complaints about the address on the Buildings Department website. One received on October 19th specifically complains about parties.
"With COVID, these maskless gatherings should not be happening, it's worrying this is happening so close to where I live," said another local who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation. "There are a lot of families around, and it's not conducive for anyone’s lives at this particular moment. I myself don’t feel comfortable going out and having conversations with strangers or getting involved with drunk people because of COVID, so I’m at a bit of a loss how to deal with this."
She added that she thought it was "shocking that it's happening right now, because you would think people would be safer with cases going up, and just have general empathy with how people are dealing with the pandemic," she said. "We’re kind of trapped in our homes currently, and you’d hope that people would understand that a little more, but it seems to be getting worse."
Some of the recent events there appear to have been hosted by a promoter group called The Party Boyz; according to their Eventbrite page, they've thrown at least a dozen events since Labor Day Weekend, including several recent dates which correspond with neighbors' records on when parties occurred. Though their event listings say face masks are required for entry, videos shared on social media show crowded indoor gatherings with few people wearing masks and apparently surpassing the state's limit on indoor gatherings to 50 people.
That includes at least two Halloween-themed parties this past week, one on Thursday and one on Sunday. Unlike previous pandemic parties, for which promoters asked attendees not to post images on social media, these hosts seem less concerned about putting videos up showing the illicit indoor gatherings
Below, you can see videos from events held last week inside the venue, which is recognizable thanks to the Pasta Wiz chandelier and a "Juice + Salad" sign which are still there.
DJ Class Act, one of the organizers who posted the videos above, boasted on Instagram about events having 300+ capacity and selling out tickets. He also wrote a post reminding partygoers not to expect "Five Star Quality" service because of the pandemic, and acknowledged the illegal nature of the events.
"Every backyard or venue that I have gone to this summer in the back of my mind I already told myself, 'this is an illegal party so I don't expect the best quality or expect 5 Star Service,'" he wrote. "But honestly I had a blast this summer because if it wasn't for some of these illegal parties I would have been home depressed. Some of the backyard parties were dope or Some Type Ghetto but some of us promoters have tried the best."
The Party Boyz did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the parties.
Locals have reached out to the 90th Precinct for help when the parties have been happening, but noted they have rarely responded. On October 24th, police did show up to respond to complaints about one of the parties, and they seemed surprised at the size of the event. In a recording of a conversation with officers from the 90th Precinct which was reviewed by Gothamist, an officer can be heard listening to concerns from locals.
"We got information there was going to be a big old party here, and we pretty much stopped it from going down bigger than it is," the unidentified officer said. "This is a legitimate business unfortunately. We are trying to put up a block the best we can. But if we're not here, they all start to scurry in." We've reached out to the 90th Precinct for comment.
Neighbors say they have also made complaints to 311, the Department of Buildings, the Department of Health, and City Councilmember Stephen Levin. In an email to Levin's office two weeks ago, they wrote that even with "a squad car parked in front of 60 North, people continue to loudly loiter up and down the block. This business is a nuisance and a public health threat. Please work with our neighborhood to address the situation."
Levin told Gothamist that he had received that email and said he planned to look into it. He stated unequivocally that if people aren't abiding by the state's social distancing guidelines, which limits all gatherings to 50 people or fewer, he would work with other officials to stop it.
"I think it's very misguided for anyone to participate in any type of large social gatherings right now," he said. "I was in support of the government's recent restrictions around religious gatherings, and that involves people's religion. This involves people wanting to have a good time, and there's no rationale whatsoever for that."
