GRAND RAPIDS, MI — Starting today, the face of adult entertainment in Grand Rapids, MI will be much more exposed — or more discretely covered, depending on where you look.”Due to harassment from the City of G.R. As of Sat. Feb 24, we are closing our theaters + peeps. Thanks for your patronage. Sorry,” reads a sign that The Grand Rapids Press reports is taped to the countertop of the Cina Mini I Adult Bookstore and Theater. According to the paper, at least two shop owners plan to close their booths entirely, while others have not yet announced their decisions.
Herb Newhouse, who owns the Little Red Barn Adult Theater, expects that the removal of the doors to his 14 booths will results in a 98-percent drop in their use.
At issue is the city’s decision to crack down on sexually oriented business with a tough ordinance that requires previously private video viewing booths to become far more public by having their doors or curtains removed and their interior visible to management. Additionally, erotic dance venues will need to keep their semi-clad entertainers a minimum of six feet from customers and perched on stages a minimum of 18-inches tall.
“I can’t predict what individual businesses owners will be doing,” Assistant City Attorney Catherine Mish admitted to The Grand Rapids Press, “but we’ll be checking,” she warned.
Teenie weenie bikinis will make a minimal appearance on the dancers working at the city’s two strip clubs, according to their management, which also had until today to comply to building requirements set forth in the ordinance, which was adopted 11 months ago but not put into effect until today, after U.S. District Judge Robert Bell refused to hear last October’s attempt by club owners to challenge the restrictions.
Newhouse told the paper that since Bell’s decision, his life performance revenues have dropped from $8,000 for a prime weekend night to less than $1,000. His hopes for continued professional survival may well depend upon the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which he hopes will overturn the ordinance.
Local club owners, frustrated by the business they claim the ordinance has already lost them to unencumbered clubs in Kalamazoo, Lansing, and Muskegon are largely hoping that maintaining bikini bars will keep them out of trouble with the city. Ron Buckner, who manages Parkway Tropics, opted for string bikinis instead of a stage, telling the Press that “They’ve succeeded in outlawing the viewing of nipples, but otherwise it’s business as usual.”
The dancers at Sensations and Showgirls Galleria have been wearing bikinis during customer heavy nights since the configuration of the building makes it impossible for performers on the center stage to obey the six-foot rule. Even at Showgirls Galleria, where an 18-inch stage is available, dancers wear bikinis in order to mingle with the crowd and collect tips.
The ordinance was adopted last year after being promoted by anti-strip club organization, the Black Hills Citizens for a Better Community, and the Michign Decency Action Council. The former group was motivated by opposition to a new strip club and the latter group promised to finance the city’s defense of the ordinance.
