Nudity banned in bars Supervisors: Voted to tighten restrictions

The Board of Supervisors gave Butte County voyeurs a cold shower Tuesday by banning full nudity at alcohol-serving bars.

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday passed an emergency ordinance that bans full nudity at alcohol-serving bars in unincorporated areas of the county. It was drafted as a response to the First Amendment Gentleman's Club attempt to serve alcohol in early January.

The club, which features all nude dancers, has to use a permit to serve only nonalcoholic drinks, but served alcohol during the New Year's festivities.

The club served alcohol for three days, said manager David Bryden, and stopped on Jan. 3.

Ironically, the ordinance won't stop the nude dancing at the club, as long as the management continues to not serve alcohol.

Even so, the ordinance was aimed at putting the strip club out of business, said Supervisor Fred Davis.

“We'd rather have none of these types of bars in the county at all,” Davis said. “We're going to make it as hard on them as possible.”

County lawyer Neil McCabe said the club opened itself up for stricter regulations when it began serving alcohol briefly for the New Year celebrations.

The county doesn't have the legal authority to outlaw nudity at all adult businesses, he said, but past court devisions give counties precedent to ban full nudity at bars that serve alcohol.

The First Amendment Gentleman's Club, which opened under a storm of media attention in October, holds permits to operate as a juice bar “with adult entertainment,” said co-owner George Mull.

The bar began serving alcohol as a test, Mull said.

“We wanted to serve beer and wine for the New Year's celebrations,” Mull said. “But in hindsight, it wasn't a good idea for the safety of our customers. We stopped voluntarily.”

“Even without serving alcohol, that place is dangerous,” Davis said. “There's no stopping guys in Chico from having a few beers at home and then driving all the way out there to see the girls. It's already on a bad stretch of highway. It's just a bad idea.”

Mull didn't tell the county that he was trying to have the alcohol license reinstated, he said Tuesday. At the Board of Supervisors meeting, he apologized for that.

“I do apologize to the extend that I did not explain it,” Mull said. “We are in fact a juice bar which was our intent from the beginning.” …

— Paradise Post,

Jan. 14, 1999