Mayhem on Orchard Street Friday Night After Chinatown Soup Party with Rapper Theophilus London Shut Down
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Friday evening saw some mayhem on lower Orchard Street, just north of Canal Street. Indeed, it was an abbreviated scene reminiscent of Kanye West teasing his Webster Hall late show a couple weeks ago, albeit on a much smaller scale.
At around 11pm that night, we received the following note from a Boogie reader – “200 under 20 looking kids jumping on cars at orch/canal.”
Here’s what allegedly went down, based on several accounts of the incident. The problematic gallery/events space Chinatown Soup rented out the store to a “third-party host” for a birthday party. It got out of hand – largely due to purported rumors that rapper Theophilus London would be performing – and the owners terminated the party due to excessive complaints from concerned neighbors. As a result, dozens of youngsters flooded Orchard Street and were spotted banging on parked cars and tossing trash.
Cops broke up the horde of youth fairly quickly, we’re told. Several 911 calls were also placed, apparently, though no arrests made.
When reached for comment on the party and its aftermath, Chinatown Soup owner Michelle Marie Esteva noted:
We rented the space out to a third-party host who wanted to have a birthday party. When we heard from a neighbor that the party was getting noisy, our manager alerted the host and shut down the party before 11pm.
After 11pm, the space was locked shut. This wasn’t a Chinatown Soup event or programming, so I don’t know anything about a post-party or Theopholis London or why that would be related to the event organizer who rented our space for the birthday party.
This isn’t the first time that the two-year-old venue has attracted the ire of neighbors, though. There are frequent complaints about parties and unlicensed drinking. We hear that it’s also on the 7th Precinct radar.
Chinatown Soup was last grabbing headlines when news of its crowdfunding push broke last December. Esteva at the time sought a $30,000 cash infusion to “create an artist-run cafe serving coffee, tea, and specialty vegan snacks in the back of the storefront gallery.” Vegan chef-personality Junie Dish (aka Junie Ishimori), formerly of Stogo (which closed after Hurricane Sandy), is also involved, and will run her ramen pop-up from within 16 Orchard. Those plans remain just that.
Lil riot on orchard st. Kids jumping on cars and throwing trash. Filmed at @staphwriter ‘s. pic.twitter.com/j4Rk5mXzHO
— Alejandro Loquito (@bfastburritos) June 18, 2016
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