Huntington Beach council to consider nudity ban

Kenneth Ma

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- A proposed ordinance to ban nudity in all public

places, including bars and restaurants, will reappear before the City

Council on Monday.

Meanwhile, the owners of the Flamingo Adult Theater plan to open their

all-nude, no-alcohol bar on Beach Boulevard near Talbert Avenue in the

next week.

Council members voted 7 to 0 at its July 5 meeting to table the

ordinance until Monday, citing a lack of information.

“This is such an incredibly critical issue in the community,” Mayor

Dave Garofalo said, adding that the council needed more time to make a

well-informed decision.

Councilwoman Pam Julien said more time is also needed to address

concerns, such as the possibility of the bar serving alcohol if nudity

was banned, whether the ordinance is constitutional and whether requiring

dancers to wear clothing would allow them to be closer to customers.

The ordinance, which would be enforced on all existing and future

sex-oriented businesses in the city, requires exotic dancers to cover

their private parts.

Since June, Talbert and Beach Inc. of Huntington Beach has been trying

to open the strip club, which would feature nude exotic dancing. The

Flamingo Adult Theater at 18121 Beach Blvd. -- a site of a former French

restaurant -- is undergoing its final inspections, said Ross Cranmer, the

city’s director of building and safety.’

Randy Garrou, an attorney representing the club, said the owners plan

to open Friday.

However, Cranmer said he doesn’t think the club will be done with its

inspections in time. He said the club will more likely open next week.

“There were a number of complicated issues which [city] staff has not

presented to” council members, Garrou said. “We are hoping that at the

next council meeting they come to the conclusion which we feel is

inescapable.”

If it opens, the club will be the first business in the city to

provide live adult entertainment. Patrons must be at least 18 years old

to visit, and the club will not serve alcohol.

Current city law permits a strip club but does not allow service of

alcohol along with nude dancing. For that reason, the Flamingo Theater

has been dubbed a nude juice bar.

In addition, city ordinances require exotic dancers to be at least 6

feet away from customers with rails around an 18-inch elevated stage.

Councilman Dave Sullivan said this type of business would not be

appropriate for Surf City.

“I’d like not to have it at all,” he said. “But we were told by the

city attorney that we would lose certain litigation over 1st Amendment

rights.”

Councilman Tom Harman said he does not like the business, but city law

allows for it.

Harman said he is concerned such a business could attract

prostitution, drugs and other vices to the neighborhood.

Such vices would not exist, Garrou said, because the club will adhere

to all city restrictions separating dancers and customers.

“Prostitution does not occur at well-run clubs of this type, and

particularly does not occur where there are severe customer-dancer

separation restrictions,” Garrou said.

Lt. Chuck Thomas, a spokesman for the Huntington Beach Police

Department, said the department’s main goal is to ensure the club follows

proper laws and guidelines.

“We [will] take appropriate action to make sure those laws are

followed,” he said.

Last year, council members considered a similar ordinance to ban

public nudity but decided to delay action on the advice of City Atty.

Gail Hutton. She said action should be delayed pending the outcome of

federal and state court cases involving sex-oriented businesses versus

cities.

In March, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the city of Erie, Penn.,

in its decision to ban public nudity at a sex-oriented business.

A city staff report cited the Supreme Court ruling that “public nudity

was not inherently expressive conduct, [and] public nudity ordinances are

not ‘content based’ restrictions on speech that are subject to ‘strict

scrutiny’ by the Court.”

Neighboring Newport Beach also was successful in defending its laws,

which require exotic dancers to wear G-strings and pasties.

Deputy City Atty. Scott Field said the proposed public nudity

ordinance was not brought to the City Council earlier because it took

time to gather supporting evidence.

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