A downtown Salt Lake City club hosts parties until 4 a.m. despite police, landlord concerns

Behind an unassuming door off Market Street in downtown Salt Lake City, the shuttered New Yorker restaurant space has found a second life as a mysterious nightclub — one Salt Lake City police are “very aware of,” an official said.

The after-hours New Yorker Social Club at 60 W. Market St. has “nothing” to do with the iconic restaurant that once served elegant food and martinis to Salt Lake City’s elite, said Market Street Grill general manager Will Pliler, whose restaurant is next door. But it’s been operating in the same basement space “for a few years,” he said.

Glen Ross Easthope, also known as “Ross Glen” Easthope, is the club’s owner, a man previously convicted of operating a business without a license, court records show. He says the “new” New Yorker is open from about 1:30 a.m. to 4 a.m. on Saturday mornings, then operates again from about 9 p.m. on Saturdays to 4 a.m. on Sundays.

The spot can stay open so late because it operates as a private event space, not a standard bar, per the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Services. Two private groups currently host invite-only events at the club, Easthope told The Salt Lake Tribune. As it advertises on its Facebook page, it’s “where the city never sleeps.”

But its status is in limbo. According to court documents, the business was recently served with two eviction notices, one June 8 and another June 23. In the most recent notice, a law firm representing the club’s landlord cited three nearby shootings, one in April and two June, as a reason for the eviction.

Former Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff is representing Easthope as the club contests the eviction — and continues operating.

‘Not random shootings’

Salt Lake City police are investigating the shootings. None happened at the club, but Brent Weisberg, a police spokesperson, said in an email that the agency has been involved in conversations aimed at addressing violent crime occurring “at/around” the New Yorker Social Club “for several months.”

Two of the shootings, along with a third not mentioned in the eviction notice, came late at night during Utah’s annual Pride weekend.

The first, on Saturday, June 3, unfolded just north of the New Yorker Social Club at about 3:30 a.m. A volley of gunshots erupted as SLCPD officers were patrolling a large pay-to-park lot at 300 South and West Temple, police said; several of the rounds flew over officers’ heads, and one hit a sign above them.

The second, on Sunday, June 4, happened at about 4 a.m. in the same parking lot. A Salt Lake City police officer arrived to find 22-year-old Halapaini Latu Moala wounded just north of the parking lot’s stairs. Moala died at the scene, per a news release.

The third shooting, on Sunday, June 4, happened at about 11:30 p.m., west of 300 South and Main Street — around the corner from the club. No one was injured, but investigators believe it was related to the 22-year-old’s killing earlier that day.

A police news release noted that the early June 3 shooting and the June 4 homicide both appeared to stem from people leaving an unspecified “after-hours venue.” None of the shootings happened in the small valet lot just outside the New Yorker Social Club, but a stabbing was reported there early Aug. 12, during a large fight that broke out at about 4 a.m., Weisberg said. Three people were injured in the fight but all declined treatment. No arrests have been made.

Salt Lake City police Chief Mike Brown ordered officers to step up patrols in the area after the Pride weekend shootings, but said the gun violence seemed to be isolated.

“These were not random shootings, but we certainly understand the fear they instilled,” he said in a statement.

According to police calls for service data obtained through an open records request, police were called 60 times — and officers generated 23 calls — near the club’s Market Street address from July 5, 2022, to July 5, 2023. The calls included 11 reported assaults, one of which involved a gun, and two of which were against police officers.

The fatal 2022 shooting of 29-year-old Nichole Olsen in November also happened in the large parking lot north of the club. SLCPD Detective Michael Ruff said it unfolded during a dispute while Olsen was reportedly on her way to the establishment. She later died in a hospital.

Aside from enhanced patrols in the area, SLCPD is working to post “no trespassing” signs in that large parking lot to deter crowds from unlawfully gathering, according to a police news release.

In a statement on Aug. 8, Chief Brown said that the efforts of officers and specialty squads in the area around 60 W. Market St. “have truly made an impact.”

“The work being done exemplifies the positive outcomes that can happen when we partner with community members and other stakeholders to collectively address the challenges impacting the well-being of our neighbors,” he said.

Who parties at New Yorker Social Club?

The club that sits at the epicenter of these increased policing efforts operates without a liquor license — because it doesn’t need one, according to DABS spokesperson Michelle Schmitt.

That’s because the New Yorker Social Club is licensed with the city as a reception center for private gatherings that are invite-only, such as wedding receptions, and such establishments aren’t required to have liquor licenses or event permits if they are only serving alcohol to guests, not selling it, Schmitt said.

If the establishment was selling alcohol in any way — even at a private event — it would need a permit, Schmitt said.

Bartender Jasmine Rose, who has worked at the New Yorker Social Club since it opened, said the club doesn’t sell alcohol behind the bar, but does provide mixers for the alcohol that group organizers bring in.

The club is allowed to stay open past normal bar hours because of the events’ “private” designation as well, Salt Lake City mayor’s office spokesperson Andrew Wittenberg said.

Easthope said the space is rented by two private, members-only groups. One of them, called Foreign, favors hip-hop, Latin and R&B music and meets from about 1:30 a.m. to 4 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday mornings, said group founder Kevin Smith. People can attend the after-hours Foreign group only if they have a paid, invite-only membership.

The other group, called The New Yorker, rents the space from 9 p.m. on Saturdays to about 1:30 a.m. on Sundays, and hosts birthday parties, themed parties and other events, Rose said. She described the group’s members as “mature” 30- to 45-year-olds, not the “young, crazy crowd.”

Rose said that group enjoys line dancing, mingling and chatting with her as she works behind the bar. She said the group is made up of a lot of LGBTQ individuals and people “that you could tell never felt included in things.”

The New Yorker group has been the subject of a lot of rumors, Rose said, like a “game of telephone, and people start making juicy stories up.” But she describes the group’s members as positive and peaceful.

Previously, on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., a private group called The Divine Assembly, led by former Utah Sen. Steve Urquhart, met there. Urquhart said in an email that Easthope allowed the group — which bills itself as a “magic mushroom church” — to use the space for free.

Club owner’s criminal history

Nearly a decade ago, New Yorker Social Club owner Easthope and his wife were accused of operating an unlicensed massage business out of their Centerville home, court records show.

At the time, prosecutors said Easthope wasn’t a licensed massage therapist but assisted his wife in operating the business and knew that she was allegedly performing sex acts during some of the massages.

The business operated from about October 2013 to March 2014, court records state. During one massage in March 2014, prosecutors said Easthope was found hiding in a furnace room connected to the massage room, which had a hole in the wall where someone could observe what was happening inside. Multiple recordings of sex acts were found on Easthope’s computer, court records state.

Easthope was charged with three class A misdemeanor counts of unlawful massage therapy; a class B misdemeanor charge of doing business without a license; and a class B misdemeanor charge of voyeurism.

Two of the unlawful massage counts were dismissed with prejudice, court records show, though Easthope was found guilty of one, which was amended from a class A to a class B misdemeanor. He was also found guilty of doing business without a license, but that charge was amended from a class B to a class C misdemeanor. The final charge, voyeurism, was also dismissed with prejudice.

In the same case, Easthope’s wife was charged with sexual solicitation and doing business without a license, both of which she was found not guilty for, court records show.

Easthope said that other than not having a proper license to do business in Centerville, “the rest of the story was all false and fake news.” He added that the only videos found on his computer were of him and his wife, and that once that was discovered, the computer was returned to them.

The couple have applied to have the charges expunged, he said.

Easthope was also a co-owner of the since-shuttered Echo Nightclub at 134 W. Pierpont Ave in downtown Salt Lake City. He is in the midst of an ownership dispute with one of his business partners, civil court filings show.

Because of the dispute, Echo and the conjoined Karma nightclub forfeited its liquor license in May. When a new club, Gem Nightclub, applied for a liquor license at the same location, DABS commissioners granted it, but not before expressing concern about the old club’s history of assaults and bar fights.

Easthope argued his business partners forced him out of Echo. After that, security at the club deteriorated to the point of fights breaking out, he contended, and much of the staff quit because he said they “felt unsafe.”

A separate financial dispute filed in 2020 against Easthope and his former business partner has been resolved, according to Shurtleff, Easthope’s attorney.

Easthope also had two tax liens filed against him by the Utah Tax Commission in the past decade: Both were filed in 2nd District Court against Easthope and his wife — one for $7,870.05, filed on Feb. 21, 2022; and another for $6,611.02, filed on May 22, according to a Utah state court records search.

Bartender Rose described Easthope as a generous person, one who recently bought an electric wheelchair for a woman who lives in his apartment building after hers was stolen. “There’s a lot of us that he’s provided jobs for that I don’t know where we would have been without him,” Rose said.

Ordered to evict — but still operating

The New Yorker Social Club is technically what’s called a “DBA,” or a “doing business as,” according to records obtained from the Utah Division of Corporations and Commercial Code. This means it’s owned by a separate establishment — in this case, Button Up Bar LLC, which is doing business as the New Yorker Social Club.

The building that houses the club is owned by an LLC in a family trust, which came out of the estate of the building’s previous owner, well-known Salt Lake City restauranteur John Williams, who was killed by his estranged husband in 2016.

On July 11, the building’s landlord, New York Building LLC, filed an unlawful detainer complaint against Button Up Bar and Easthope, arguing the club is occupying the space unlawfully. According to court documents, Easthope owes $60,860 in past due rent and $23,871.61 in past due utility charges, but Zack Winzeler, an attorney for the landlord, said those amounts continue to accrue.

Winzeler declined further comment, saying they would let the complaint speak for itself.

Button Up Bar and the building’s landlord initially entered into a five-year lease agreement on June 22, 2020, the complaint states. It alleges that Easthope is in violation of the lease because the New Yorker Social Club “has failed to cause its customers and patrons to not congregate, loiter or consume alcoholic beverages in the valet parking area or any other portion of Landlord’s property.”

The complaint also alleges Easthope allowed the premises to be used in violation of the law, in a way that could cause “injury or damage” to the property, “constitute a public or private nuisance,” or “be a source of annoyance or embarrassment to the landlord or other tenants in the building.”

“Landlord has received multiple complaints about tenant’s business from other tenants and employees in the building and adjacent property owners,” the complaint states.

The shootings cited in the latest eviction notice included one on April 1, and two in June. The complaint states that the man killed June 4 was of one of the club’s patrons and that the shootings were possibly gang-related.

Weisberg confirmed that officers responded to the area of 60 W. Market St. on April 1 to investigate a possible shooting. When they arrived, they found two cars with gunfire damage but no one injured, he said. The SLCPD Gang Unit continues to investigate the case.

“Many of the shootings and the incidents that occurred in June 2023 have a gang nexus,” Weisberg said. “At this time, we cannot discuss the specificity of each case, but we can confirm detectives with our Gang Unit have been heavily involved with these investigations.”

In his formal legal response to the unlawful detainer complaint, Shurtleff, representing Easthope, argued that the amount of money the landlord is seeking is inaccurate. The document states Easthope and Shurtleff had copies of canceled checks to prove it.

Shurtleff also wrote that the club’s security team does its best to curtail drinking outside the building, “but ultimately it is the job of law enforcement to handle this.”

As for the shootings, “there has never been any shootings or things of this nature, in or on the premises directly under the responsibility of the tenant,” Shurtleff wrote.

“The shootings never happened in or on our space,” Easthope said in a text. “They happened in the lot behind us and had nothing to do with our club or its members.”

Shurtleff’s legal response also states that, after one June shooting, “when the landlord realized that the tenant was not responsible for these events, he even jokingly said in a text, ‘well we dodged a bullet on this one.’”

Easthope and Shurtleff are contesting the unlawful detainer filing, arguing that they have a lease agreement, have made payments, and are following a forbearance agreement.

The club hasn’t vacated the premises because Easthope is contesting the eviction, according to Shurtleff. In fact, the club could stay open for months while the case is litigated, Shurtleff said.

“I think there’s a number of people who don’t like him, don’t like [the club] there, they don’t like what the people that are using it — what they’re doing and so forth,” Shurtleff said.

Easthope believes the building’s landlord is being “pressured” by city officials to evict the club. “I can understand why he is having to try and do what he thinks he must,” he said.

“But they’re on top of things,” Shurtleff said of the club. “We’re just arguing. We’ve met every requirement, we’re in compliance, and there’s no grounds to have it thrown out.”

Editor’s note • This story is available to Salt Lake Tribune subscribers only. Thank you for supporting local journalism.

Correction • Aug. 21, 10 a.m.: This story has been updated to correct the details of an ownership dispute involving Glen Ross Easthope.