Two popular LSU hangouts on West Chimes Street are eyeing expansion as tensions between the two businesses mount.
The Lotus, a hookah cafe and lounge, and Murphy’s near the university’s North Gates are both looking to expand operations in the future for more capacity to host student nightlife. The relatively young establishments have drawn ire from students and neighbors, claiming one or the other is to blame for the street’s noise, crowds and litter. Some also allege racist misconduct.
Both businesses have lit up a once-quiet residential street next to LSU academic buildings, with the owners hoping to provide a safe, fun place for students to let loose.
The Lotus is a “third space” — an increasingly popular term for a place that isn’t school/work or home — for students of color and alternative students, filling a market gap, said business manager Kwane Douglas.
The Murphy’s ownership group, which includes local Mattress Direct owner Ty Hingle and LSU Board of Supervisors Chair Scott Ballard, brought back the once-shuttered bar in hopes of creating a safer nightlife option to Tigerland. It closed in the 1990s after the death of a student.
Tensions have brewed between the two as the business leaders point fingers at one another for who’s to blame for the rowdy West Chimes Street activity.
“The rivalry, I guess, between us and Murphy’s is still ongoing just because of how they try to portray us falsely in our community when they’re actually the bad actors on the street,” Douglas said.
“The Lotus owners are developing a fallacy because it’s an easy out,” Hingle said.
Groundskeeper Shane Leggio picks up littered cans and cups left along an apartment building on West Chimes Street located in between Murphy’s on Chimes and The Lotus hookah lounge on Thursday, October 22, 2026. Leggio said the litter is left behind frequently from the foot traffic created by the nearby bars. Staff photos by Javier Gallegos
Welcome Week
The Lotus was thrust into the spotlight earlier this year when an LSU Welcome Week bash ended in students fleeing from the street, with West Chimes Street neighbors and patrons blaming the lounge, though The Lotus’ leadership say otherwise. Douglas says The Lotus is not to blame for the large crowds that alarmed the neighbors in August, which originally came from a university block party earlier that night. After the party wrapped up, the crowd migrated to West Chimes Street and filed into Murphy’s and The Lotus, which reached capacity and spilled onto the street. Police later broke up the crowds.
But the spotlight wasn’t all bad, he said, since it brought more attention and customers to the lounge. He plans to expand The Lotus in the future.
Douglas says the heat from the accusations made in public meetings and on social media led to a review of the business’ approvals, which resulted in the business applying to change from its existing retail occupancy use to assembly. The business’ original designation as retail was an oversight by the city, he said.
In East Baton Rouge Parish, most hookah lounges fall under the bar or lounge classification, even if it doesn’t serve alcohol, Bill Pousson, deputy building official, said in an email. The Lotus is proposing to operate as a tobacco retailer selling food as an accessory use and will not serve alcohol, Pousson said.
“I’m happy the city’s working with us now, and there’s going to be a lot more to come with us,” Douglas said.
For now, his focus is finding a long-term place for The Lotus near campus. Douglas said they’ll be in their current space until January, but lease renewal is still to be determined. He is also working with the city to set an occupancy limit for the business’ outside area. The inside is 80, and he is shooting for around 200, he said.
There’s also stigma around hookah, Douglas said, that casts a negative light on the activity.
“It encourages people to talk and communicate and chill out,” he said. “It’s like the opposite of some of these bars, where people are even super duper drunk and acting crazy.”
Murphy’s on Chimes pictured on Thursday, October 22, 2026. Staff photos by Javier Gallegos
Prospective expansion
The Planning Commission held a public hearing at a July meeting over The Lotus’ application to rezone the property to bar and lounge use, which was ultimately met with unanimous disapproval. Murphy’s owner Ty Hingle spoke in opposition to rezoning at the meeting, stating The Lotus’ late-night operations have made Murphy’s staff feel unsafe and cast a bad light on the neighboring bar.
“What I’m opposed to is the end game and the result of the business that’s run there now,” Hingle said at the July meeting.
In 2023, during the process of obtaining a liquor license, the then-prospective bar was met with backlash from neighbors who feared the business would disrupt the street with noise and crowds.
Hingle is looking into purchasing Inga’s Subs & Salads, a longtime restaurant next door to Murphy’s, to expand the bar. Inga’s lease expires in May 2027, he said, and he plans to use the kitchen to start serving food. His vision is to emulate the popular Perkins Road overpass bar Ivar’s back patio area, he told the Planning Commission at its meeting on Monday, Oct. 19.
The commission voted to unanimously approve rezoning Murphy’s and Inga’s to bar and lounge classification after seven people spoke in opposition to the rezoning at the Monday meeting. Hingle hopes to expand next year.
“They are working together, the council and Murphy’s,” Douglas said of the rezoning approval.
Metro Council member Carolyn Coleman, whose district includes The Lotus and Murphy’s, said Murphy’s was approved for rezoning because the owners had completed the required steps for the bar and lounge use. She said The Lotus leaders had previously admitted to operating the business without a permit and allowing patrons to bring in their own alcohol, which led to their rezoning denial.
“They did what they wanted to do, and they got what they got,” Coleman said.
The Lotus hookah lounge pictured on Thursday, October 22, 2026. Staff photos by Javier Gallegos
The neighborhood
Hingle said he’s worked on “good neighbor agreements” with those in the surrounding area and will pay for soundproofing neighbors’ windows as well as build a sound barrier around the building, an investment that will cost upward of $20,000. Their sound system automatically reduces noise at midnight and shuts off at 2 a.m., he said in an interview.
Though he’s publicly spoken in opposition to The Lotus’ operations, Hingle said in an interview that there’s no tension between the two business owners.
“I don’t have any issues with him,” Hingle said of Douglas.
Employees at businesses on West Chimes Street say both venues draw noisy crowds, even as nearby late businesses like The Revelry get far fewer complaints.
A business owner on the street, who declined to be named for fear of retribution from area venue patrons, said he’s worked on the street for 16 years and had no issues with the crowds until a few years ago. Lately, he’s noticed a lot of litter in the street around his shop in the morning.
Nathan Jasper, a West Chimes Street resident, said crowds sometimes gather in front of the gated property when he gets back to his apartment late at night. He’s a music student and chose the apartment for its proximity to the LSU School of Music.
“Expanding to Inga’s is a bit sad,” he said of Murphy’s expansion.
Makayla Dukes, a 21-year-old LSU student, said she’s seen crowds from both businesses spill onto the street. But since Murphy’s draws primarily white students and The Lotus draws students of color, Dukes said, the racial dynamic is another “pushing factor” in the debate.
A few people who spoke in opposition to Murphy’s rezoning at Monday’s Planning Commission meeting alleged racism and homophobia from the establishment, saying Black patrons have been denied entry due to fake dress codes. They also brought up the bar’s T-shirts for staff for the LSU vs. Texas A&M game that included a homophobic slur.
In response to allegations of racism, Hingle said that Murphy’s is the only college bar in the area that employs Black people and at the Monday planning commission meeting, he stated that his son is currently interested in a Black girl, which he claims is proof that he is not racist.
“I feel like a lot of complaints The Lotus gets, Murphy’s gets a pass for,” Dukes said.
Staff photographer Javier Gallegos contributed to this report.
