Black History
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L OST N EIGHBORHOODS
Club Faces Closure
Under pressure from neighbors to curb noise
By Tonya Y. Parker
Of The Skanner News
Article first published on 01-06-1999
A
fixture of the North Williams
Avenue landscape and the local
Black social scene is under pressure
to change its ways or face a possible fine or
loss of its liquor license. Officers of the
Cleo-Lillian Social Club, a well-known
gathering spot in the Albina community
since 1958, said they’re trying to stem the
tide building against the establishment
because of complaints from neighbors
about noisy patrons.
They want the community to stand up in
be hard.
At the end of June, the OLCC issued the
club a ticket charging it with “ a history of
serious and persistent problems involving
disturbances” affecting neighborhood liv-
ability. The club had been cited once before,
for selling to a nonmember in 1989.
Then, from July to October, the club
received 21 complaints from neighbors
about loud stereos, talking and laughing,
peeling tires, honking and people shouting
after midnight, OLCC spokesperson Louise
Kasper said. In the past five years, inspec-
tors have talked with club officials about
neighborhood livability concerns at least 10
times, she said.
Kasper said she doesn’t
know what penalty the June
charges will bring because a
formal letter to the club is
spending. The letter could be
complete in a couple of weeks,
she said.
“It’s a very serious viola-
Browning tion,” Kasper said. “Over the
years, they’ve had numerous
warnings and verbal instruc-
tions from our inspectors.
“We want our licensees to be good neigh-
bors. People take exception to being
awakened out of their sleep.”
Kasper said Cleo’s has had its Class B
liquor license - which allows private clubs
to serve beer, wine and hard liquor - since
1966. When it was renewed in October, 19
restrictions were put on it, which she said
isn’t done often.
“We try lots of different methods to help
people build complying businesses,”
Kasper said. “We’ve worked really hard to
be fair with the club.”
Browning and his brother Xavier, the
club’s vice president, maintain although
they appreciate OLCC and city officials’
patience and willingness to work with them,
the constant complaints from some neigh-
bors who they think aren’t interested in
coming to a mutual agreement say a lot
about the new face of the area. Both men
think the club is a victim of the communi-
ty’s gentrification.
They say some people would like to see
the club gone so the property can be taken
over and redeveloped. They also contend a
handful of determined, new neighbors are to
‘They might claim they want
diversity. But they’re not
neighborly’
--Xavier
support of the club, write letters to the Ore-
gon Liquor Control Commission and the
city of Portland and attend any hearings
about the establishment’s future. Also, if the
club decides to change to a restaurant for-
mat, for instance, investors will be needed,
President Robert Borrowing said.
To address the complaints, club officers
so far have distributed and posted an anti-
noise policy around the establishment
explaining what behaviors need to stop
immediately. Patrons are barred from the
club for a violation, and security guards
have been hired to keep things under control
inside and outside the building Wednesdays
through Saturdays.
Browning said the club has increased the
membership fee from $5 to $25 to try to
attract a new type of member and long ago
cut its closing hours from 2:30 a.m. to 1
a.m. June through September and 1:30 a.m.
October through May. “If we closed any
earlier, it’d be economic suicide.”
Still, OLCC and city officials say some-
thing more aggressive and noticeable has to
be done soon. Otherwise, allowing the club
to continue operating as it does now could
Cleo-Lillian Social Club today, on North Williams Avenue
blame for the barrage of complaints.
“It seemed like it was (one neighbor’s)
goal to have the club removed,” Xavier
Browning said of a White woman who once
lived about three doors down from the club
on North Monroe Street and organized other
residents. “This is a diverse community, but
it’s like they don’t want us in the area.
“They might claim they want diversity.
But they’re not neighborly.”
Cleo’s has been at its current site at 3041
N. Williams since its inception and is open
every day. On an average day, the club has
about 20 patrons in the afternoon and four
times as many in the evenings.
To be a member, a person must be
employed, be 25 or older, be established in
the community, pay the membership fee and
have legitimate references. When sisters
Cleo and Lillian founded it 40 years ago, it
was a popular spot for soul food, card
games and special luncheons.
Robert Browning said that through the
years, the crowd and look of the club have
changed somewhat but that it is still a part
of the community fabric, sponsors a bowl-
ing team and donates to local charities.
However, he said the club officers realize
change is inevitable with time.
So, the club has outlined five scenarios to
be accomplished by May 31 -- the start of
its busy summer season -- to address the
noise problem. The possibilities include
opening a public soul food restaurant at the
current site; ceasing operations; asking city
and state officials for an administrative
hearing; and moving to a nonresidential
neighborhood.
The club once considered moving in 1996
because of neighborhood and membership
concerns. However, it could not find afford-
able property in a nonresidential area in
North/Northeast Portland.
Browning said that likely still would be an
obstacle today if the club were to try to relo-
cate. Other long-term plans include
changing the club to a jazz/blues format to
attract a more mature crowd; creating an
advisory committee; developing meeting
spaces available during business hours; and
renovating the interior and exterior of the
building.
“Pressure is mounting,” Robert Browning
said. “It’s basically a situation where the
neighbors are going to keep complaining, so
we have to find a way to eliminate the noise,
and we need to solve the problem right
away. “
Art
continued from page 2
an assistant at Grant. We’re studying Black
History, and we’re starting out with nation-
al leaders but by the end of the month I want
to bring in information about local civil
rights leaders. I’m looking for them. So
that’s what I’m looking for now. I’m inter-
ested in the ‘ghost map’ series that you guys
viduals can make their own images for a
heritage map.
TSN: What you would like to do is con-
nect with people in the community who
want to share stories and help create a his-
torical record of civil rights in this area –
especially lost history, things
that aren’t written down.
Colburn: Yes. And that’s
related to but separate from
the Williams Avenue ghost
map, which is what Fenix
(LAX) (see The Skanner
News this week, “Black His-
tory and Beyond: Landmark
Pop Art”) the photographer
and I are working on to deci-
pher, sift out the 20 locations
on that Williams Avenue
ghost map.
What we did do was personal
interviews with people at the
senior center who had grown
up in ‘The Villa’ when it was
‘The Villa’ and not New
Columbia
are doing (see The Skanner News, Aug. 9,
2011, ‘Portland Gentrification: The North
Williams Avenue That Was – 1956’). The
students that I work with now are all on the
autism spectrum; a lot of them are really
artistic, so I’m thinking that even if they
don’t get all the big concepts, we can create
collaborative collages of maps or even indi-
TSN: Explain that – the 20 locations.
You’re trying to narrow down the 20 places
that you think people really valued?
Colburn: That original ghost map that
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February 22, 2012 The Portland and Seattle Skanner v BLACK HISTORY EDITION v Page 3