Strip Club News

A restraining order was recently issued against Booby Rock (Boobie Rock?), a new gentlemen’s club scheduled to open in mid-November in San Antonio, TX, at the request of a nearby business that may delay the planned opening.

EOS Acquisitions filed a lawsuit against Booby Rock claiming that deed restrictions prohibit any business that offers “entertainment appealing to prurient interests” from operating at that location. A hearing is scheduled for October 30th to determine whether a temporary injunction should be issued.

Meanwhile, city Councilwoman Diane Cibrian is continuing her irrational fight against the club by protesting the club’s liquor license application with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. The Commission has received a petition with a whopping 560 signatures from area citizens and business owners opposed to the new club.

The owner of Booby Rock, Glenn Williams, also owns Sugars, another topless bar in San Antonio.

The drive to gather enough signatures to force a statewide vote to repeal new strip club restrictions in Ohio has failed, falling 60,000 signatures short despite a reported $1.5 million in expenditures by the coalition behind the effort.

The new law enacts severe penalties for touching of nude or semi-nude dancers, prohibits dancers from touching each other, and forces a halt to nude entertainment at midnight, which will severely harm the income generating ability of clubs and dancers.

Strip club owners and owners of other adult oriented establishments have banded together to file a federal lawsuit on constitutionality grounds and another lawsuit was filed challenging Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner’s handling of the referendum petition.

A federal judge denied a request on 10/18/2007 to grant a temporary restraining order to an association of club owners. US District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. scheduled a hearing on November 16th on the club owners’ request for a preliminary injunction.

As of now, the law has taken effect and clubs are complying. Lap dances will not be what they used to be in Ohio.

Rick’s Cabaret International, a publicly traded corporation specializing in owning and operating adult entertainment establishments throughout the United States (NASDAQ symbol: RICK), has announced that they have signed a letter of intent to purchase a strip club located somewhere in the Southeast.

The acquisition target’s name and location have not been revealed. Rick’s is keeping it confidential for now. Per the terms of the letter of intent, the unnamed club will be acquired for $25 million and is expected to generate annual revenues of $18 million and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $8 million per year. The deal is contingent on due diligence, financing, and the transfer of pertinent licenses.

In the 12-month period ending June 30th, 2007, Rick’s had revenues of $29 million and EBITDA of $4.4 million. This is a sizeable acquisition that will nearly double Rick’s annual revenue and EBITDA.

Also this week Rick’s announced that it will be buying a 51% ownership stake in The End Zone, Inc., which owns and operates Crazy Horse Too in Philadelphia, PA. After the deal closes the club will be renamed under the Rick’s Cabaret brand. Rick’s plans to add an upscale steakhouse to the club.

Official Press Release

There may be a new strip club opening soon at 3388 S. Robertson Blvd. in Los Angeles in the Regent Square area. According to one article, the name for the new club is Skin Cabaret.

What makes this story so interesting is the creative way the people behind the club managed to get around local adult entertainment restrictions to get a permit. Los Angeles city law requires that adult oriented businesses be at least 1,000 feet apart from each other and at least 500 feet away from a park, school, church, or residential area. The new club is 993 feet away from a business called Dominion, which has been described as a bondage club. Thus, Skin Cabaret is within 1,000 feet of another adult entertainment business and against city regulations. However, the people behind the club are chopping 7 feet off the building to bring the location within the distance requirement.

It’s a shame that someone who wants to open a strip club has to hire a construction company to demolish 7 feet of the building in order to get around arbitrary restrictions that really serve no public safety purpose. But, let’s give them credit for pulling this off. If there is a will, there is a way.

Despite spending $1.5 million dollars in an effort to collect enough signatures to force a statewide vote to repeal punitive new strip club restrictions, an Ohio coalition of adult entertainment businesses has failed.

Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner said that the coalition known as the Vote No On Issue 1 Committee was not able to gather enough signatures from at least 44 of the 88 counties in Ohio necessary to get the initiative to repeal new strip club restrictions on the November ballot.

The new restrictions impose heavy penalties on the most innocuous touching and require adult entertainment businesses to close at midnight—which is when many of them start getting busy. These restrictions serve no public safety purpose; they are nothing more than a way to circumvent existing court rulings and punish adult entertainment by making it more difficult to do business.

The only thing that will stop this law from taking effect now is a judge issuing a temporary order while the coalition makes its appeals in the court system.

This is only the beginning. This victory for the bible thumpers will only embolden them to pressure spineless lawmakers into even tighter restrictions or an all-out ban on any nudity whatsoever, which is their true goal. Succeeding at forcing clubs to close at midnight isn’t going to satisfy these peoples’ cravings for power. They are hellbent on robbing citizens of their freedoms by imposing their morality on them via the legislative process and very few lawmakers on either the Democratic or Republican side are stepping up to preserve the freedoms of citizens.

It’s a shame that America is moving backwards because of a small, vocal group of messed up people.

Perhaps the people at Citizens for Community Values, the group that pushed for these new restrictions, should focus their attention on pedophile priests and child abusers in the church instead of on the recreational activities of consenting adults.

Officials in Daytona Beach, FL, are preparing to crack down on strip clubs just in time for annual Biketoberfest.

Thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts will be pouring into town and if they are pouring beer down their throats, they won’t be able to look at topless or scantily clad women.

City ordinance prohibits nude or scantily clad dancing in any establishment that serves alcohol or is within 500 feet of another establishment that serves alcohol. As part of the upcoming crackdown, police will be combing local strip clubs looking for any dancer who shows too much skin. Even pasties and G-strings are illegal per city ordinance as they are deemed too revealing by city law. The city even went so far as to distribute an image of the minimum amount of attire a dancer may wear, essentially establishing a dress code for dancers (now the government is telling people how they can dress—how’s that for free expression?).

If a dancer violates the ordinance by showing too much skin, she can be arrested. Club managers could be arrested as well.

Though club attorneys are eventually hoping to take this before the US Supreme Court, in the meantime city leaders will do their best to harm the economic viability of businesses that offer adult entertainment and infringe on the rights of consenting citizens for no other reason than their own personal dislike of this type of entertainment which is enjoyed by millions of people every year.

(I have been to several fully-nude strip clubs that serve alcohol over the years in a few different states and never once have I witnessed anybody misbehaving or causing trouble.)

In Europe you can find women topless at any beach or pool in full view of men and little children. In many countries, there are nude beaches or sections of public parks set aside for nude sunbathing and recreation (like Englischer Garten in Munich, Germany, for example). Yet in Daytona Beach, Florida, if a dancer shows too much of her buttock or covers her nipple with a pastie she can be handcuffed and hauled off to jail if alcohol is served within 500 feet. Unbelievable!

Citizens need to start voting with their wallets. Next year people who attend Biketoberfest should take their money and go to a city that is more respecting of peoples’ freedoms.

Scores Being Sued

A former bartender at Scores in New York City, Siri Diaz, is suing the club claiming employees were forced to work for substandard wages and cheated out of tips and overtime pay. The suit was extended to class status representing 100 current or former Scores employees at several club locations. The claim regarding the tips stems from the club’s in-house currency called Diamond Dollars which are redeemed for 10% less than face value. Under the law, if an employee is paid less than minimum wage it is illegal for the employer to keep any portion of the tips. The claimants are seeking an unspecified amount in back pay and overtime.

Las Vegas, Nevada

The Olympic Garden in Las Vegas could qualify for a taxpayer subsidy for a new neon sign outside the club. The topless club is asking for $50,000 in taxpayer money to help pay for the new $130,000 sign. The city has a program whereby businesses in certain redevelopment areas can qualify for money to spruce up their properties.

Fort Worth, Texas

There may be some new strip clubs coming to the Ft. Worth, TX area. The city council approved plans for a large gentleman’s club and four other sexually oriented businesses recently. A small contingent of irrational residents is opposed as they fear that strip clubs will bring crime to the area. One all-nude BYOB club is proposed for an area near Interstate 820 and Trinity Blvd.

San Antonio, Texas

City Councilwoman Diane Cibrian joined with a group of concerned citizens to protest the opening of a new strip club to be called Booby Rock scheduled to open in mid-November near Huebner Rd. and Interstate 10. The name of the club reportedly is derived from the name of an island in the Virgin Islands. Regardless, it’s a nice way to work a part of the female anatomy into the name.

A relatively new strip club in Salem, Oregon, is reportedly for sale. Presley’s Playhouse Cabaret opened seven months ago and the owner is looking to sell so he can move to Montana or explore other business opportunities.

Presley’s Playhouse is a nude club featuring female dancers with a liquor license. The owner, Frank Boussad, is asking $400,000 for the business and $900,000 for the property. The owner may be willing to lease the property instead of selling it outright for $5,500 per month.

According to news reports, Boussad claims the business is doing well and generating a “big profit”.

Presley’s Playhouse Cabaret Website

The Boom Boom Cabaret in Lubbock, TX, emerged victorious in a settlement with Lubbock County earlier this week that will give the ownership of the strip club $50,000 of taxpayers’ money.

The strip club and the county were in a dispute over the club’s sexually oriented business permit application which contained mistakes back in January, according to the county. The county then stripped the gentlemen’s club of its permit to offer nude dancing. Boom Boom Cabaret continued to operate with clothed dancers until a judge issued an injunction in June that allowed the club to offer nude dancing again.

The Court ruled that the club should have been allowed more time to correct the errors on its permit application. Lubbock County commissioners voted to settle with the club to cover lost revenue and attorney fees.

The Kentucky Court of Appeals upheld Louisville’s adult entertainment ordinance that requires dancers to wear pasties, prohibits touching, limits the hours of operation, and prohibits the sale of alcohol in such establishments.

It is possible this will be appealed to the Kentucky Supreme Court. If this is appealed and fails, Louisville will be one of the lamest cities in America.

An additional 230,000 petition signatures were submitted by a coalition just before the final deadline to put an initiative on the November ballot to repeal the state’s new restrictions on strip clubs.

In September, 382,500 signatures were submitted, but two-thirds of them were ruled invalid. The coalition had an additional 10 days to get enough valid signatures to total 241,366 in order to force a statewide vote on the issue. The latest signatures will be reviewed for validity.

The new law forces strip clubs to close at midnight and increases penalties for touching dancers.

Flesh Club in San Bernardino, California, may be forced to close for eight months as the result of an August ruling by Superior Court Judge Donald Alvarez that the club routinely engaged in promiscuous sexual and lewd conduct.

In a trial that lasted nearly 10 months, dancers and private investigators testified that prostitution frequently occurred in the club, with several dancers admitting that they kept price lists for sex acts, according to news reports.

Judge Alvarez will make a final ruling before October 24th. The club’s owners maintain that the prosecution of the club stems from hostile feelings resulting from a $1.4 million civil judgement against the city for harming the club’s business in 2004.

Psychologist Geoffrey Miller of the University of New Mexico and other researchers did a study comparing an exotic dancer’s money making ability at different times during the month and discovered that a dancer’s income is significantly higher when she is most fertile.

The researchers studied dancers at local gentlemen’s clubs. They found that dancers made nearly twice as much money when they were close to ovulating as they did when they were menstruating, and almost an average of the two during periods in between.

According to the study, dancers made about $70 per hour just before ovulating, compared to $50 per hour when they weren’t, and only $35 per hour when on their periods.

The differences in income were attributed to changes in the stripper’s natural body odor and hip and facial features during their cycles. It is possible that there were also subtle changes in behavior during the study subjects’ fertile periods.

It was also discovered that dancers using birth control pills made significantly less than those who didn’t, earning an average of $37 per hour compared to $53 per hour. The use of birth control could mean the loss of many thousand dollars per year for a stripper because there is no earnings boost during ovulation.

It is well known that humans respond to pheromones emitted by the opposite sex. If a stripper wants to make good money, she should dip her finger in her pussy and wipe it all over herself. Well, that’s Strip Club Central’s theory, anyway. Guys love the smell of pussy!

You can read the stripper study here (PDF).

Federal authorities are hurriedly looking for a buyer for the former Crazy Horse Too in lucrative Las Vegas, Nevada.

The strip club is for sale following the 2006 guilty plea for tax evasion of former owner Rick Rizzolo. Rizzolo, currently serving a one-year federal prison sentence, was ordered to sell the club to raise $17 million dollars to pay court ordered settlements and forfeitures. After Rizzolo failed to the sell the club it was seized by the federal government and is currently in the possession of the Marshals Service.

The government is eager to sell Crazy Horse Too which is currently closed because the club will permanently lose its liquor license if it isn’t reopened by December 31st, making the club worth significantly less than the current estimated market value of mid-$30 million. The club will lose its liquor license because of zoning laws that prohibit sexually oriented businesses from being located within 1500 feet of each other; there is another one nearby.

The Las Vegas office of CB Richard Ellis is handling the marketing of the club. So if you have around $35 million laying around or are able to obtain financing to close the deal and get it reopened in time, you may want to consider this rare opportunity to own one of Las Vegas’ former top gentlemen’s clubs.

The United States Supreme Court has refused to hear the appeal of a 14-year-old case involving the city of Chicago’s revocation of a club’s licenses for serving alcohol where scantily clad dancers were performing.

The name of the gentlemen’s club in question is VIP’s. Back in 1993 when the club was called Thee Dollhouse, police officers observed dancers exposing parts of their breasts and buttocks that are prohibited under city law. The result was the revocation of the club’s business and liquor licenses. The club had been allowed to continue operating while it was challenging the constitutionality of the law. Now that the court of last resort has refused to hear the case, there are no remaining legal options for VIP’s.

Chicago law prohibits the display of genitals, pubic hair, buttocks, and female areola where alcohol is served. The law goes back nearly 30 years and was supposedly intended to reduce the negative secondary effects on the surrounding community that the combination of liquor and nude or semi-nude dancing could have, whatever those could possibly be.

From 1993 – 2006, there were 9,468 murders in the city of Chicago. There have also been around 200,000 robberies and thousands of rapes during that period of time. It’s a good thing the city has been working hard to make sure guys can’t sip beer while they look at women’s breasts, isn’t it?

The city council in Salem, OR, is planning to discuss possible new regulations on lap dances following a loss in court earlier this year. In July, Marion County judge Albin Norblad ruled that the city’s prohibitions on touching were unconstitutional per the state constitution.

The case stems from a dancer who was arrested at Cheetah’s for engaging in prohibited touching in April of 2005 with an undercover police officer. The prohibited touching in question involved the grinding of the dancer’s pelvis into the officer’s pelvis for the purpose of arousing sexual excitement.

Salem residents are also hoping to gain support to amend the state constitution to allow for stricter regulation of strip clubs.

The Salem city ordinance 96.300 (PDF) read as follows:

96.300. PROHIBITED TOUCHING.
(a) It shall be unlawful for any person to pay a fee, or to receive a fee, directly or indirectly, for touching or offering to touch the clothed or unclothed body of another for the purpose of arousing sexual excitement in himself or any other person.

(b) It shall be unlawful for any person to pay a fee, or to receive a fee, directly or
indirectly, for allowing another person to touch his clothed or unclothed body for the purpose of arousing sexual excitement in himself or any other person.

(c) It shall be unlawful for any principal, agent, or employee of a business to cause, permit, aid, or abet any violation of this section by any principal, agent, or employee of the business. (Ord No. 96-72; Ord No. 70-74)

Even we here at Strip Club Central are surprised that a judge found grindage to be a constitutionally protected form of expression. But we aren’t complaining.