Atlanta Police officers and Department of Revenue agents surprised management of the 24-hour nightclub Backstreet when at 6:30 a.m. on Sunday, April 23, 1995, they showed up at the club and issued it a citation for serving alcohol after hours.
Backstreet had operated as a 24-hour private club with a city license to serve alcohol 24 hours a day since 1987, when owner Vicki Vara transferred the permit from the Spring Street bar Weekends, which had been an after-hours club since 1984.
“All of a sudden — isn’t it amazing?” Vara said. “All of a sudden they want to go by the book.”
“The book” is the state’s “blue law” which prohibits alcohol sales between 2:55 a.m. Sunday and 9 a.m. on Monday, except for establishments that derive 50 percent of revenues from food sales.
“The city law doesn’t outrank the state law,” said Chet Bryant, head of the Department of Revenue’s alcohol division. Bryant said the state allows local governments to monitor compliance with the law.
But for Weekends/Backstreet to operate for 11 years and then be told they can’t seems harsh, said attorney Ernest Brookins, who represented both clubs.
“It’s a shame. You allow someone to assume this is the way your government is going to act, and then suddenly somebody changes their mind,” he said.
After a years-long battle with the city of Atlanta, Backstreet finally closed in July 2004. Georgia’s blue laws remain intact.
Southern Voice, May 4, 1995
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