The operator of recently reopened-then-shuttered all-ages music venue the Alley vows he won’t go down without a fight. “They can’t keep doing this to kids. It’s gone on long enough. I’ve lived here almost 30 years, and I’m not gonna put up with this,” Dan Maltzman promises. “I have a civil rights attorney, and if I have to get 2,000 people to march down to the County Commissioners, I will.”
Last Friday night, as the Summerlin teen hangout kicked off its two-day “Alley-Palooza” grand re-opening, a Clark County representative arrived on the scene and informed Maltzman—an employee of Family Music (8125 W. Sahara Ave.), which houses the Alley’s 400-capacity performance area—he was in violation of a code restricting all-ages activity within 1,500 feet of any business selling alcohol.
“It’s ridiculous. A lot of these laws are 30 years, 50 years, 100 years old, and they keep shutting down every venue for kids,” says Maltzman, who staged the Alley’s first show since February 2006 on October 12. “It’s a joke. Fifteen hundred feet is, like, a third of a mile. There isn’t a building in town that’s not within a third of a mile of something like that. And I’ve got really good security. We don’t let those kids anywhere near those businesses.”
According to county spokesman Dan Kulin, “One of our guys went there Friday night and explained that they did not have the license they needed—a teenage dance-hall license—and my understanding is that they can’t apply for that license because of the location and its proximity to a business where liquor is sold.” The two sides were expected to meet to discuss the situation on November 7.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the Alley’s MySpace calendar (myspace.com/thealleylasvegas) still listed 16 shows through early January, beginning with a November 9 bill featuring four local bands. Maltzman says he’s hoping to work something out in time to stay on schedule. “We’re willing to do whatever they want us to do,” he says. “I can understand if there are problems or issues, but there wasn’t anything dangerous going on.”