By Michelle Castillo

For six years, Tim Doocey complained to anyone who would listen about Lounge 47, the bar that moved in next door to his home on Vernon Boulevard. Patrons would shout boisterously from the garden in back. Smokers chattered piercingly in the front. It got so loud that he had trouble grading the papers of his college students in his living room. Doocey tried shutting all the windows to muffle the noise, but the sound filtered in. One night, he dragged the furniture from one side of the apartment to the other hoping to find a quiet spot, but there was no place to escape in his apartment.

Then, to his horror, another establishment opened on the other side of his house, a Latin-fusion restaurant called Blend. Ominously, it too had a backdoor area that could be used as a garden. What’s more, the establishment received a beer and wine license in October. Now Doocey, 39, who ironically moved to the block in 2001 because Long Island City was quiet back then, worries about doubled din.

“It’s a matter of keeping your fingers crossed and saying to yourself, ‘Well, I’m hoping tonight in my own home, I’ll be able to concentrate,” he said.

The story has echoed from Soho to the East Village to Williamsburg. Now, it’s Long Island City’s turn. Younger residents move into affordable, dingy neighborhoods. Bars follow to cater to the hipsters, and the old timers complain about the noise that comes when people drink.

As Vernon Boulevard evolves into a nightlife destination, Doocey and a dozen other residents in and around the house numbered 47-08 have encountered an extreme situation. Not only are they now surrounded on two sides by drinking establishments, there is at least one more bar down the block. Their fears are not unsubstantiated: since 2000, there has been a 53 percent increase in full liquor licenses in the vicinity.

Doocey’s downstairs neighbor, William Garrett, has been leading the charge at the local Community Board to fight against the liquor licenses on either side of their homes. He argues that his kids should be able to sit in their backyard, do their homework or sleep without the background sound of drunken chatter. He hopes authorities will listen – to him.

“We have long held the hope that, in regard to a mid-block 40-seat outdoor bar within a few feet of residents’ homes, logic will prevail and there will be no need for legal action,” Garrett said.

So far authorities are not on his side. An official from the New York State Liquor Authority said there were multiple complaints filed against Lounge 47, but none were substantial enough to prevent a two-year renewal of the liquor license last July 1.

Community Board members declined to comment on why they granted the one-year limited liquor license to Blend, which failed to get a full license three years prior due to a state rule that limits the number of bars within 500 feet of each other.

Lounge 47’s management maintains that it has made concessions by closing earlier than the state requires – 2 a.m. on weeknights and an hour later on weekends. Manager Niall Carolan said his clientele was far from rowdy, baring the odd drunk. He pointed to big orange signs on the walls that ask people to keep down the noise.

“This is not a bar where people come to pound beer,” Carolan said. “They come in here to have something to eat and have a few social drinks. People don’t get out of hand.”

Meanwhile, Blend insists that it is a restaurant and not a bar. Neighbors have implored its owners not to open the back garden to customers. While according to Garret the restaurant has verbally complied, they have been given no promises in writing.

As of now, Blend has not opened its back garden and it seems to be complying with the neighbors’ requests. Garrett said the eatery’s owners personally told residents that they would keep the quiet on weekdays after midnight. However, he claims that employees noisily dump bottles and garbage on the street past that time, which he claims disrupts his sleeping family.

Garrett and his neighbors have the sympathy of Dr. Arline Bronzaft, the chair of the non-profit Council on the Environment in New York City, which has advised several mayors, including the quality-of-life zealot Michael Bloomberg. She said that excessive constant noise causes stress that can contribute to various physical ailments including heart attacks.

“If you can’t carry out some chores and sit in your backyard on a summer day, you may be living, but are you really living?” Bronzaft said.

Noise at the Vernon Boulevard nightspots has polarized the area, which has transformed over the past 20 years from a largely desolate manufacturing area to a more residential one. The City rezoned the area to allow more commercial businesses in 1995 to provide more amenities.

Residents turned on each other at Community Board meetings in July and then in September, such that a local blog, LiQCity, briefly disabled its message board because of the vitriol. Meanwhile, residents who complained about the din around 47-08 report abuse by some Lounge 47 patrons.

One afternoon in August, Garrett, who is a sound engineer, stood in his second-floor bedroom window with a video camera to capture how loud it can get at the bar. The video shows customers making lewd gestures and comments about him.

He claimed that Lounge 47 owners had told him that he should move if the noise bothered him, a claim that the owners declined to comment on.

Moving is not option, residents note. They don’t feel that they should be forced out of their homes by a noisy neighbor. Anyway, it would be hard to sell in this depressed housing market. And who would want to buy a house surrounded like this?

“I’m happy making this my home,” Doocey said. “But, as long as you add alcohol to the mix, the volume goes up. It’s not whether or not they have it legally; it’s a matter of whether or not they can control their customers.”

Above: Residents claim that the bars that move in next door are too close for comfort.