CLEVELAND (WJW) – Video released to the FOX 8 I-Team shows Cleveland police uncovering a secret doorway to a hidden nightclub.
So, we investigated the story behind it.
The video takes you inside a hidden world police didn’t even know existed until one officer took a few extra steps and pushed open a door.
The case started with police checking out a coffee shop where workers were suspected of selling alcohol. Officers went to a building at East 186th and St. Clair.
Mom hands new baby to firefighter under Safe Haven Law
“We’re getting a lot of complaints for this place.” one officer told people there.
“Complaints?” a man responded.
“Open late. Large crowds. I’m like, a coffee shop, open late?” the officer continued.
“I think you all have the wrong place,” another man answered.
Police discovered the coffee shop had no permits to sell liquor or food.
Meanwhile, an officer said, “let me do a quick check.”
Then, when one officer takes a walk to the back, she goes through a door to the bathrooms and pushes open another dor. Turns out, that door leads to a bar.
“There’s another bar in here,” that officer said. “This separate from that over there?”
“Yeah, I’m the owner. This is called Lovey’s,” a woman responded.
Through the door, 5th district officers uncovered a bar with a full kitchen, but the bar had no permits either.
So, police shut down the bar and the coffee shop, all in the same building. It happened last year, and the police video has now been released to the I-Team.
As officers took action, they learned how the two operations were connected.
You hear police saying to a woman in the bar, “How you get in here?… Back door, maybe?”
“We share the bathrooms,” the woman explained.
Local rail crossing finally getting fixed: I-Team
We wondered what has happened since then. So, we went back for a look. We found no activity.
Police say they also went back to make sure liquor sales hadn’t started up again. One night, they watched liquor being packed up and hauled out.
Back to the video, a police supervisor tells the woman at the bar, “you guys can’t be open at all, OK?”
Police did not file any charges. They say the people running those two businesses did shut down as soon as they were ordered to do it.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Fox 8 Cleveland WJW.
