By Joy Bergmann
An Upper West Side massage parlor was apparently closed by authorities on Valentine’s Day in an effort to stop alleged acts of “prostitution” on the premises. According to stickers slapped on the front door of Chinese Best Qi Gong Tui-Na Back & Foot Rub at 216 W. 103rd Street, the business has been closed “pursuant to the order of the Supreme Court of the State of N.Y. New York County.”
WSR attempted to reach the owners of the business, but the storefront remained closed on Sunday, its phone number does not accept messages and its previous website has been taken down. On Yelp it appears that the business is known as Hua Kang Qi-Gong & Tui-Na. The earliest Yelp review for the business was in August of 2013; the most recent was in November of 2018. The 43 reviewers did not appear to mention the availability of extra services beyond the posted menu of bodywork therapies.
An NYPD spokesman told WSR that there had been “no vice arrests at this location in 2019, one prostitution arrest in 2018 and one citation for operating an unlicensed massage parlor in 2017.” The spokesman added that, “NYPD doesn’t put up the stickers; the court does.”
An examination of the twelve 311 complaints lodged for this address since 2010 found no reports of prostitution.
The NYPD’s Civil Enforcement Unit does have the power to close businesses as part of the City’s “Nuisance Abatement Law.” WSR has attempted to contact other officials to determine whether this was the case here.
We will update the story if more information becomes available.
Thanks to Denise for the tip.
Great. We’re going to get another Duane Reade or Bank of America.
Do you want the 45 minute back and foot rub for $38, or the 40 minute back and foot rub for $38?
Well done – great catch!
Good catch!
Hilarious!! 😂
Clearly a lot can happen in five minutes!
I wonder if Robert Kraft ever went there.
Jokes aside, the timing of the closure makes it possible that the two businesses are related. If so, then that would be not just a house of prostitution, but also human trafficking.
This will be legal within the next two years
Sports betting
Pot
Prostitution
All taxable vices
John, All of these things SHOULD be legalized, taxed and regulated. Take away the criminal element and there will be no reason for mob control.
One of them may be legal sooner than you think!
https://brooklyneagle.com/articles/2019/02/25/brooklyn-queens-senators-to-introduce-bills-decriminalizing-sex-work/
then you can truly say that the govt is the mob
They shouldn’t criminalize sex work and sex workers.
It’s very sad I have bad back problems causing back spasms Making it for almost most impossible to walk my options are heavy duty drugs for days or a really deep tissue massage I have been going to this place for over five years lots of neighborhood people are regulars I have never been approached or touched in any inappropriate way at all ever if something happened it was an isolated incident by one masseuseMost of the clients that I saw were women and two regulars the nanny police have strep again thank you another sign this city is being ruined one shot at a time
Ridiculous. If I want to pay someone to pull my plonker, who shouldn’t I be able to? So much for the free market.
Serious question: If decriminalized, will people who frequent sex workers like this lose the “thrill” of it? Obviously Kraft is not an Incel and he could afford to go to a sex worker who has freewill, so he must get off on the exploitative nature of these places. How will he scratch that itch in the future?
With ALL the other serious issues facing this city, the money and effort expended to stop these “happy endings” is utterly ridiculous. If 2 adults want to enter into a consensual monetary arrangement for sex then let them. Why should we care?
have you been to Penn Station lately? it’s disgusting — every entrance, all over inside, are drug addicts roaming around, scratching themselves. but this nonsense the police crack down on? DEBLASIO IS BAD NEWS.