title:  Popular St. Louis Bar Closed For Having A Clientele Too Black For The Neighborhood (SCREENSHOTS)
text: Tropical Liqueurs, otherwise known as  Trops , a popular night spot that originated in Columbia, Missouri, thought they had struck gold when a beautiful building became available in the Soulard neighborhood of St. Louis. Specializing in frozen drinks and younger clientele, the new bar was immediate success   unless you poll the neighbors. Trops doesn t just attract younger people, it tends to attract a diverse younger crowd that includes a hearty percentage of African-Americans.The neighbors, used to the noise and traffic of bars in this party-rich neighborhood, were happy to have the white college crowd for years, but for some reason just couldn t handle Trops. The bar came under immediate attack from local code officials who complained about everything from loud music to trash on the streets to parking   all things associated with a bar.Trops immediately complied with every single one of the city s demands and, in fact, went far beyond what was expected of them. They hired extra help and off-duty police officers to pick up trash outside and direct traffic. They shut down their patio music at 11PM when other bars nearby raged on. They closed their doors voluntarily at midnight even though their license allowed them to stay open until 1:30AM. They even stopped serving to-go drinks in vacuum sealed, perfectly legal cups.To owner Billy Thompson, there was nothing left to do. Not only had he complied with the city s demands, he even instituted a dress code that disallowed baggy pants and hoodies. After all was said and done, the ruling came down: Trops will lose its liquor license on April 9th; bigotry wins. The bar s Facebook page announced the closure, which came as no surprise to some fans: Those are just a couple of the comments from patrons of the bar. Some have tried to take race out of the equation, blaming the closure on the bar breaking open-carry laws and serving drinks out of a drive-through window, but those claims are hyperbole considering the cups the bar used before they stopped serving to-go drinks were legal by the standards of the City Commissioner and the drive-through was an urban legend from the original location in Columbia. Local news has also pointed out that there seems to be little other than race keeping Trops from prospering in the vast community of bars in the area.This is just another case of a business that caters to everyone trying to succeed in a neighborhood where  everyone  means  all shapes and sizes of white people. Featured image from stlmag.com