The Boston Licensing Board today formally dinged Dorgan's, 662‑664 East Broadway, for getting caught selling hard liquor to an underage guy with a fake ID and for letting customers walk back onto the street with open containers of alcohol during this year's St. Patrick's parade.
Board members say the store should have had more people on duty to deal with a parade crush of business.
At a hearing Tuesday, owner Sing Ming Chan's attorney, James Rudser, said that in anticipation of the extra business, Chan had doubled the number of people on duty on March 19 - from two to four. He and his uncle were at the door, checking IDs, while two other workers staffed the counter.
But that wasn't enough, the board said, after hearing from a licensing detective that not only did he stop a man a couple months shy of his 21st birthday walking out with liquor - and a fake Connecticut driver's license - other patrons "were leaving with open containers of alcohol," which is also illegal in Boston.
Rudser acknowledged the police report was correct, but said Dorgan's had had no previous problems and simply got overwhelmed.
Chan "had a plan in place, it just didn't work," he said.
Not acceptable, board Chairwoman Kathleen Joyce said, pointing to the store's lack of a modern ID scanner. "He's risking his entire license by not having something like that, especially on parade day," she said.
"Four people doesn't seem adequate on parade day," board member Liam Curran agreed.
Because of Dorgan's previously clean record, the board voted only to send a warning letter this time.