More at Inside Bay Area : “Geoffrey's Inner Circle, the popular black-owned and -operated nightclub in downtown Oakland, is closing. Owner Geoffrey Pete said little Tuesday other than he is transferring the lease to a church and a nonprofit. Pete has complained in the past, however, that police were unfairly targeting his night spot as well as other black-owned clubs downtown, many of which have closed in the past few years. Some of the clubs closed voluntarily or were pressured to do so by the city after crowds leaving the establishments were involved in fights, shootings and sideshows that resulted in injuries and death. Police said the incidents ate up overtaxed police resources as officers from beats around the city were called in to restore order and make arrests. Geoffrey's drew a mature, well-heeled crowd and had relatively few problems compared with other now-defunct nightclubs, such as Mingles and Sweet Jimmie's, but Oakland police Sgt. Kyle Thomas said that change
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