CHARLESTON – Topless women dancing for a video camera and weekly Jell-O wrestling contest are just two of the activities that have occurred recently within the walls of Banana Joe’s – and Charleston, West Virginia mayor Danny Jones is not happy about either of them. In fact, they have so rattled some of the city’s citizens that the popular downtown nightclub may find itself out of business.Jones is unmoved by the fact that the two saucy dancers weren’t professional strippers but, instead, paying customers of the nightclub who were showing off for the Girls Gone Wild cameras during the video production company’s recent visit to the club.
“It doesn’t matter if they were customers,” Jones insisted. “They were two topless dancers and they had their tops off.”
As far as Jones is concerned, Banana Joe’s is “running a topless bar and it’s in violation of the city’s adult entertainment ordinance.”
A certified letter from the Charleston Planning Director has been sent to club owner Kevin Hensel, who lives in Prospect, Ohio, insisting that he apply for a special permit in order to continue to offer adult entertainment. Before such entertainment could be authorized it would require both the approval of the Municipal Planning Commission and the Charleston City Council. Currently the bar has a city permit that allows it to operate as a nightclub serving beer, wine, and cocktails.
When word that the Mantra Films crew behind the Girls Gone Wild videos would be in town encouraging women to flash or engage in on-camera sex acts in a bus parked near the club, some residents and city officials responded negatively. Since the taping would take place within a private club, the city was unable to prevent it.
According to the city’s Planning Director, the adult activities that take place within the nightclub not only require a license but are a regular occurrence that has required fire and police department response. Application is no guarantee of authorization, however, as Jones explains.
“We’ll allow them to come in and apply for a special permit. If it gets turned down, their very existence might be in violation of the law.”
