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Troubled nightclub reverts to former owner Phuong Truong after Wired owner Jeff Jones can’t connect with enough customers
LEE PERLMAN
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO
Once again the bar at 11340 N.E. Halsey St., most recently called “Wired,” is going through an ownership change. The bar is closed. According to Ken Pahlke of the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, owner Jeff Jones has notified the agency that he is shutting down “for business reasons.”
Ownership is reverting to the previous operator, Phuong Truong, who operated it as New Star. She is seeking a “secured party status” license to operate the bar temporarily until she, or some other operator, can obtain a permanent license.
The bar has had an unstable history. As Eight Balls of Fire under owner Scott Detweiler, it was a popular dance spot.
However, it also received numerous complaints from the OLCC and East Precinct of fights, unruly behavior and service of liquor to intoxicated people. Under OLCC pressure, Detweiler agreed to a “compliance plan” that, among other things, forbade dancing and virtually any form of entertainment except pool and sports broadcasting.
Detweiler sold the place in March 2001 to Truong, who renamed it New Star, introduced Karaoke on weeknights and sought to have it on weekends as well. On April 13 there was a serious fight in which two men were struck with pool cues. OLCC staff recommended that Truong’s license be revoked for failing to report the incident to the police and lying about it in interviews. Truong appealed, and administrative law judge Charlotte Rutherford found that there was insufficient evidence that she knowingly did anything wrong. The OLCC commission later sustained this conclusion. Phuong retained her license and had some of the restrictions on it removed.
Then, late last June; Phuong sold the bar to Jones. The OLCC reinstated all the old restrictions. Jones renamed the place “Wired,” reflecting its identity as a sports bar. Earlier this year he negotiated a sale to Ismet Dzananovic, a Yugoslav immigrant, who planned to rename the place “Asterisks”. However, the deal fell through.
Jones could not be reached for comment.
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