{"id":128141,"date":"2026-02-09T23:03:53","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T23:03:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/128141\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T23:03:53","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T23:03:53","slug":"residents-sound-alarm-over-alleged-mayhem-at-astoria-nightclub-qns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/128141\/","title":{"rendered":"Residents sound alarm over alleged mayhem at Astoria nightclub \u2013 QNS"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s four o\u2019clock on a Saturday morning, and the regular crowd shuffles out of CODE nightclub in Astoria<\/a> \u2014 usually accompanied by the sounds of drunken fighting, blaring car stereos and general mayhem, according to disgruntled Astorians living nearby.<\/p>\n

For over a year, residents on the mostly residential block where CODE is situated have been placing hundreds of 311 calls to raise concerns about a number of issues, including persistent noise complaints in the small hours of the morning and allegations that the club has been placing traffic cones in public parking spaces to reserve them for valet parking.<\/p>\n

The club has vociferously denied allegations, stating that it has done \u201ceverything\u201d to be a good neighbor.\n<\/p>\n

Neighbors express anger over persistent noise complaints<\/p>\n

Residents have expressed anger at the police for allegedly failing to properly deal with persistent complaints about the venue, located at 20-30 Steinway St., off 20th Avenue, in a quiet part of Astoria. But several residents said it was a \u201cslap in the face\u201d when the NYPD\u2019s Hispanic Society held a fundraiser at the club before Christmas despite months of community complaints.<\/p>\n

The NYPD, in turn, said it would have been \u201cegregious\u201d if the 114th Precinct had organized an event at CODE, but added that the Hispanic Society was likely unaware of neighborhood issues with the venue when it organized the toy drive because it has no connections to the 114th Precinct.<\/p>\n

Neighborhood complaints go far beyond a holiday fundraiser, however.\n<\/p>\n

Emily, a resident who did not provide their real name out of fear of retribution, told QNS that almost every person in her building has called 311 multiple times over noise complaints but accused the police of \u201cignoring\u201d complaints. She alleged that the NYPD also adds to the late-night cacophony by blaring sirens in a bid to move revelers along when it does respond to calls.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt 4 a.m., NYPD was driving down Steinway Street blasting their horns trying to get double-parked cars to move, instead of getting out of their car and saying \u2018move.\u2019 It just adds to the noise,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t believe they want to do that much about it. They\u2019re just going through the steps.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NYPD pushed back strongly, stating that the 114th Precinct regularly responds to incidents at the nightclub. A spokesperson for the NYPD said officers issued sentences for underage drinking at the venue as recently as New Year\u2019s Day, while officers also used a sound inspection meter outside CODE on Dec. 27 after receiving multiple noise complaints.<\/p>\n

The spokesperson said the inspection returned \u201cnegative results\u201d of noise violations from three different locations.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIn response to 311 complaints, officers from the 114th Precinct have issued multiple summonses at 20-30 Steinway Street in the past year for various quality of life conditions,\u201d an NYPD spokesperson told QNS. \u201cThe 114th Precinct continues to work with the community and the establishment to address any complaints and will conduct enforcement as conditions are observed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 114th Precinct issued eight criminal court summonses and four OATH summonses relating to violations of city rules and quality-of-life laws in 2025. Cabrera disputed the police response, stating that the club has only received three tickets in 26 years of operations as Central and CODE.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have any underage drinking. That\u2019s a lie,\u201d Cabrera said. \u201cWe haven\u2019t received any summonses. Those are lies.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Residents say they are fed up with what they described as persistent noise levels when events at the club come to an end and a perceived lack of police response, particularly early on Monday mornings after Sunday-night events.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople will come out, sit in their cars, blast music, drink, smoke weed, and then drive home,\u201d Emily told QNS. \u201cAnother source of the noise is drunk people fighting. We\u2019ve had groups of about 10 men fighting just outside our property.\u201d<\/p>\n

One resident, approached by QNS during a daytime tour of the area, told the publication that he did not have time for an interview but gave the following response.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have time today, but it\u2019s f***ing awful.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u2018We don\u2019t have any problems,\u2019 CODE manager says<\/p>\n

CODE manager Cesar Cabrera strongly disputed the claims, stating that the club has met with the 114th Precinct and Community Board 1<\/a> to devise strategies to move guests away from the area after the club.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no police in the morning because we don\u2019t need it. We don\u2019t have any fights. We don\u2019t have any problems,\u201d Cabrera said.\n<\/p>\n

Cabrera added that the club deploys bouncers to disperse guests when events at CODE come to an end. He also said residents had no problems with the club when it operated as Central prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and believes that people had gotten used to living on a quieter street before CODE opened after the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Cabrera said the crowd at the club has changed since the reopening, which he believes is a source of neighborhood annoyance.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cCentral was mainly Greek, and now it\u2019s not,\u201d Cabrera said. \u201cSunday, we have one urban event, and they hate that event.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Emily said the club does engage with neighbors about their complaints, but insisted that the venue only does so in order to \u201cgaslight\u201d local residents.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, they do have bouncers, but it\u2019s just a guy yelling at people,\u201d Emily said. \u201cThere\u2019s noise from people fighting, noise from cars outside, in addition to bouncers yelling at people and adding to the noise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evie Hantzopoulos, chair of Queens Community Board 1, said the board has been receiving complaints about CODE for over two years. Hantzopoulos said the board had written to the State Liquor Authority (SLA) asking for the club\u2019s liquor license to be revoked.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor over two years now, we have heard complaint after complaint about CODE,\u201d Hantzopolous said. \u201cLast year, Community Board One sent letters to State Liquor Authority and NYPD 114th Precinct asking for revocation. The letters outlined the various grievances against CODE including cases of disorderly conduct, assault, noise violations, parking violations, and general lack of respect for the surrounding community. Their license was renewed and the problems continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parking problems<\/p>\n

Just as irksome to residents as frequent late-night disturbances has been an ongoing battle over public parking spaces.\n<\/p>\n

Residents allege that CODE\u2019s valet drivers have been regularly placing traffic cones over public parking spaces to ensure they are free for valet parking, which forces residents to park a significant distance from their own home. CODE again strongly disputed the allegations.<\/p>\n

NYPD officials said police issued 170 summonses for parking violations in the immediate vicinity of the nightclub in 2025.\n<\/p>\n

Annie, a local resident who asked for her last name to be omitted, said she has also come home on more than one occasion to find a valet driver urinating on her front door or in her garden.\n<\/p>\n

Annie also accused valet drivers of parking on sidewalks when there are no available public parking spaces.\n<\/p>\n

Felix Peres, the owner of Stop & Enjoy Deli on 20th Avenue, said he has witnessed valet cars parked on the sidewalk on several occasions when he has opened his store early on a Monday morning. Peres said cars are regularly parked over the entrance to his basement, limiting how he can take early morning deliveries.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s too much,\u201d Peres said. \u201cI have to go talk to the valet guys every weekend.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Peres has been placing cones over the basement doors in a bid to prevent valet drivers from parking there but said drivers simply move the cones and park there anyway.
\n\"PeresPeres has placed cones over his basement doors. Photo by Shane O\u2019Brien\n<\/p>\n

Cabrera again pushed back strongly, stating that the club only offers 15 valet parking spaces outside the nearby Steinway Motors auto shop, with which it has an explicit written agreement.<\/p>\n

He said the club had previously received complaints about using public parking spaces elsewhere in the neighborhood and ceased the practice after a conversation with the Community Board.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cDrivers don\u2019t do that (park on sidewalks or in public spaces. They would get fired if they did,\u201d Cabrera said.\n<\/p>\n

Cabrera said the club also employs security personnel to patrol the area and report any signs of wrongdoing, while the club also employs cleaning teams to clean the surrounding streets.\n<\/p>\n

Emily said parking issues have improved significantly in recent months, but alleged that valet drivers still park on the sidewalk when they are parking in front of the auto shop, which is located adjacent to the Stop & Enjoy delay. She also questioned whether the auto shop had the authority to give away public parking spaces or sidewalk space.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s consistently every weekend\u2019<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Peres said the deli, which opens at 4:30 a.m. on Mondays, must also deal with dozens of late-night partygoers leaving Sunday night events at the nightclub, Peres said. He alleged that drunk stragglers often shoplift on their way from the nightclub and said he does not confront them out of fear of provoking a dangerous incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey steal things. I don\u2019t want any trouble,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n

When he notices that crowds are particularly boisterous on the street, Peres now keeps the doors locked until people have dispersed.\n<\/p>\n

Annie added that rowdiness peaks at around 4:30 a.m. when people begin leaving the nightclub.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just traffic jams, people honking, people fighting outside, screaming and yelling,\u201d Annie said. \u201cIt\u2019s just very frustrating.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Emily said she has contacted the club on numerous occasions to report people fighting in the street or having sex in her driveway. However, she believes the club can do little once guests leave the premises and is instead disappointed in the response by the police.<\/p>\n

Annie was similarly annoyed by what she described as a lack of police presence outside the club late at night.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s consistently every single weekend. I just don\u2019t know why they can\u2019t be here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s four o\u2019clock on a Saturday morning, and the regular crowd shuffles out of CODE nightclub in Astoria…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128142,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[40918,128,55317,310,9,24,12155,63,103,55318,129,131,130],"class_list":{"0":"post-128141","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-bronx","8":"tag-114th-precinct","9":"tag-bronx","10":"tag-code","11":"tag-daily-newsletter","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-noise-complaints","15":"tag-nyc","16":"tag-nypd","17":"tag-parking-violations","18":"tag-the-bronx","19":"tag-the-bronx-headlines","20":"tag-the-bronx-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}