City cites unlawful activity and strip shows for Aura Latin Club’s Ann Street closure

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – The doors of Aura Latin Club on 28 Ann Street in Downtown Charleston are closed for good after city leaders shut down the establishment last month.

“There was a pattern of activity that included assaults. That included underage drinking,” said Tim Domin, an attorney for Clawson & Staubes.

Domin, who represented the City of Charleston on the matter, said over a year of problems with the establishment came to a head on January 27, 2024.

“There was a fight between multiple persons who were spilling out of the club at closing time. When the police tried to break up that fight, the guys who were fighting turned on the police and started assaulting them,” Domin told News 2.

Ann Street Brand LLC, the operator of Aura, had its business license revoked on June 14 during a City of Charleston License Committee hearing.

Aura, which is branded on social media as the “First and Only Latin Club in Downtown Charleston,” replaced the previous establishment, DECO, in September 2023.

 According to a written Decision and Order from the hearing, Aura was also found to be conducting male strip shows on a regular basis, which is outside of what they are zoned for.

“You’re not allowed to have those kinds of operations except in a light industrial, heavy industrial zone so, because they were engaged in that we added that to the reasons for the license revocation,” Domin added.

The document also stated the Committee received evidence showing, “multiple instances of assaults, disorderly conduct, drug charges, underage drinking and public drunkenness during 2023 and 2024,” which were said to be related to operations of the business.

“The police testified that a disproportionate amount of police activity was associated with that club and as a result they were not able to devote as much resources to other people because this club was using all police resources,” Domin shared.

According to Aura’s Instagram page, their events are now taking place on the rooftop of Ink on King Street and dubbed it a “new rooftop Latin club.”

Domin said he believes that is being operated by a different corporate name.

“Ann Street Brand, to the best of my knowledge, cannot operate in the City of Charleston and is not operating in the City of Charleston and if they do attempt to operate in the City of Charleston under the name of that business that has been revoked, then the city would take immediate actions to stop that,” Domin shared.

News 2 reached out to Aura over the phone and social media, but we have not heard back. We also called Ink and are waiting to hear back. Contact information for Ann Street Brand LLC was not found.