Village Demands Meeting With Gaslight Owners After Reported Problems

OAK LAWN, IL ? Village officials are requesting a sit-down with the new owner of the Gaslight Bar and Grill, after dozens of complaints from nearby residents about noise and parking since the bar reopened earlier this month.

A woman was arrested on gun charges in the early morning hours of July 10, after the bar's grand reopening under new ownership. This past weekend, officers wrote multiple parking tickets on vehicles police said belonged to patrons of the Gaslight.

Neighbors living near the bar at 51st Avenue and 95th Street received hand-delivered letters this week, stating that village officials well were aware of the problems that have arisen ?by patrons of the Gaslight Bar and Grill.?

?We are calling the new owners into village hall for a hearing to discuss [the owners?] business licenses, their liquor licenses and their future in Oak Lawn,? the letter said.

Mayor Terry Vorderer said his phone hasn?t stopped ringing with residents calling to complain and asking the village to intervene.

?This all sprang up within a week of our first incident,? Vorderer said. ?It was always a quiet bar, it has been turned into a club.?

The bar only offers four parking spots, sending patrons into the residential areas in search of parking. This past weekend, Oak Lawn police wrote 17 tickets for vehicles with expired plates or no plates at all, and one violation for parking in front of a fire hydrant.

Another patron was stopped when an officer was investigating a car blocking a driveway, and was arrested for a suspended driver?s license. Two more people were cited for carrying open alcohol outside the bar, OLPD told Patch in an email.

Vorderer said the bar?s kitchen is currently closed pending a sanitary inspection. Gaslight employees are also to report for fingerprinting at the Oak Lawn police station, as required for bar employees in a village ordinance.

?We have not yet printed a single employee,? the mayor said.

Vorderer compared the current situation with the Gaslight to Chuck E. Cheese, which voluntarily closed in Oak Lawn in 2017, following years of fights and a pair of shootings. The village has similarly gone after other troubled establishments.

Formerly known as Kraus? Gaslight, the bar was handed down through the Kraus family, until the owner, Ken Kraus, retired in 2016 and sold the bar to new owners. Kraus?s father opened the Gaslight in 1945. The second owners sold the bar to Felicia Phillips, of Chicago.

Phillips went before the village liquor commission in January. When asked what changes she planned to make to the establishment, she told the commission that she intended to update the menu, including adding chicken, as well as change out the tables. Commissioners unanimously approved a motion to recommend the approval of a Class IV liquor license, according to meeting minutes.

The Gaslight owners did return calls seeking comment.