Man stabbed at Plush in West Loop

Burnett says incident is a “stake in their coffin” for controversial club

10/13/2011 7:18 PM

By Ben Meyerson
Editor

10 Comments - Add Your Comment

Updated 10/19/2011 6:15 p.m.

A 43-year-old man was stabbed in the neck at controversial West Loop night club Plush just after midnight on Oct. 13 after an argument, leaving him in critical condition.

According to Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Daniel O’Brien, the man was stabbed inside Plush, 1104 W. Madison St., at around 12:10 a.m., and was taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition.

O’Brien said he didn’t have a description of the accused stabber.

Plush owner Billy Kleronomos said he was standing about 30 feet away when the man was stabbed, but didn’t see it. He said the victim had been in an argument with the offender about a girl.

“No one even knew it happened,” Kleronomos said. “It looked like the guy just slapped him in the face and then walked out.”

The incident comes just days after neighbors moved forward with their efforts to shut down the restaurant-cum-night club because of its rowdy patrons. The West Loop Community Organization has been leading a drive to shut down Plush, and after three community meetings, they’ve gathered enough signatures to get a hearing that would revoke the business’ liquor license through its deleterious impact ordinance.

Aldermen Walter Burnett (27th) and Bob Fioretti (2nd) are both pushing to get the club shut down.

“Myself and the community, we’ve had it up to here with Plush,” Burnett said. “What just happened at Plush right now with this incident may be a stake in their coffin.”

Kleronomos has consistently cried racism in response to criticism from community members, as most of Plush’s clientele is black. Burnett, who is black, said that doesn’t fly with him — it’s much more about the rowdiness of his patrons.

“He doesn’t want to listen, he’s a hard-headed guy, and he thinks the world is against him because he has black clientele,” Burnett said. “What I told him is that I don’t care if you have yellow or green clientele. If you’re acting like a nightclub, you are going against the community.”

Burnett said he’ll follow the case all the way up the ladder, through the hearing with the city and all the way to the courts, if Kleronomos takes it that far.

Fioretti agreed with Burnett.

“This is another incident of a bad business that just didn’t want to have its own security and maintain its own group,” Fioretti said. “Since those signatures were just turned in, I think it’ll go forward at an expedited rate.”

West Loop Community Organization Executive Director Martha Goldstein said that neighbors have been riled up by news of the stabbing. West Loop residents who previously declined to push against the business have come out and want to get involved now, she said, even though the petitions have already been turned in.

“We’ve had 100 emails from people that now want to sign the petition, because now they’re angry,” Goldstein said. “They are fearful, and they’re afraid that they could be next. The neighborhood is very much on edge and they really want this place to go.”

When Kleronomos was asked on Thursday how he thought the incident might affect his business, he sounded downtrodden.

“A guy’s life is at stake — my business is not important right now,” Kleronomos said. “This never happens at my place, there’s never fights, there’s never nothing that they say that goes on. This is not a ghetto hip-hop club. When this happened, the Bee Gees music was playing, for Christ’s sake.”

Plush was closed Thursday night, but reopened for the weekend, Kleronomos said on Monday.

But the stabbing has reaffirmed his desire to get rid of Plush, he said. He’s talking to the building’s owner about getting out of the last eight years of his 15-year lease at 1104 W. Madison. The building’s owner, he said, might turn it into a pizza place.

It’s one way to avoid having Plush shut down by the city and having any liquor licenses at the address barred in the future.

“If I get shut down, this man is going to lose the building,” Kleronomos said. “That’s the furthest thing from what I want.”


10 Comments - Add Your Comment



By Dennis from South Shore
Posted: 10/24/2011 2:04 PM

The real problem is the party promoter and the crowd that follows. Personally I'm not sure why anyone would pay the inflated cocktail prices when there are plenty of establisments in the area that don't charge as much. With that said, the promoters bring in a less sophisticated/educated crowd that will overpay for drinks and have no respect for others property. Trust me, they don't own property so they don't care.


By Dennis from South Shore
Posted: 10/24/2011 1:56 PM

I don't live in the West Loop, but I have been to Plush. I am also Black. I must say those who find the complaints about Plush totally racist are off base. I went early evening the crowd went from an older after work crowd to a younger and rowdier one. I have have also driven down Madison late night coming from other places, and noticed the chaos in the street in front of, and across the street from Plush.


By epic lulz from Oak Park
Posted: 10/15/2011 2:25 AM

Is the owner of "Plush" the same Chris Kleronomos whose neglect led to a partial building collapse in Oak Park? http://www.oakpark.com/News/Articles/09-13-2011/Building_owner_ordered_out_of_partially_collapsed_Oak_Park_property


By Face2face from West
Posted: 10/14/2011 6:35 PM

This establishment need its licence to be review as per security nor protection giving to any patrons..how can someone bring in knife or weapon to be used to hurt anyone and no Cameras in the premises."....


By Rikki from West Loop
Posted: 10/14/2011 5:05 PM

Billy, aka, \\\"Chris\\\" is a compulsive liar. I\\\'ve seen the cops called to Plush to control the crowd and break up fights about 100 times, and I\\\'m NOT exaggerating. He claims that the people who walk out of his establishment and loiter in the street directly in front of Plush when all of the other bars on Madison are closed, are not his customers. The neighborhood has no sympathy for selfish business owners who don\\\'t want to play by the rules and only care about making a buck.


By Rikki from West Loop
Posted: 10/14/2011 5:05 PM

Billy, aka, \"Chris\" is a compulsive liar. I\'ve seen the cops called to Plush to control the crowd and break up fights about 100 times, and I\'m NOT exaggerating. He claims that the people who walk out of his establishment and loiter in the street directly in front of Plush when all of the other bars on Madison are closed, are not his customers. The neighborhood has no sympathy for selfish business owners who don\'t want to play by the rules and only care about making a buck.


By ALeigh from West Loop
Posted: 10/14/2011 4:00 PM

I'm surprised this article doesn't mention the unsolved murder that happened right outside this club in August 2010. The owner doesn't care about the community, and he certainly doesn't care about the safety of his customers. His flippancy in his remarks to this publication is exactly like what he's shown in this whole process--this business has had a fair opportunity to clean up its act since the first meeting in January 2011, and he hasn't taken advantage of his second (third, fourth) chance


By Jayem from West Loop
Posted: 10/14/2011 10:03 AM

Once again, more of the same from Plush: excuses. This incident has to rank pretty high on the list of business PR nightmares, yet what Mr. Kleronomos offers are flippant remarks about face slapping and the Bee Gees. I believe this lack of responsibility and respect is the core issue with Plush, not race or anything else. West-loopers have asked Plush to be a responsible corporate citizen and have instead been told we're the problem. The neighborhood needs business partners, not adversaries.


By PJ from West Loop
Posted: 10/14/2011 9:33 AM

"This never happens at my place." Except for, you know, the time it happened before.


By me from West Loop
Posted: 10/14/2011 8:15 AM

Karma is a bitch!!! Having a homocide outside this establishment wasn't enough to shut down this club...well, now this happened inside Plush. I hope the victim sues the pants off this place; one would think the security/doorman would have spotted the knife...but they're more concerned if a patron is bringing in alcohol. What a shame.