ELYRIA, OH — As the once upon a time named Diamond Men’s Club West has learned, a strip club by any other name will still piss some people off. Although the establishment changed its name to Club 57, it’s still in trouble.According to the Chronicle-Telegram, the embattled night spot is facing a breach of contract lawsuit for the name change, with the original Diamond Men’s Club in Cleveland filing the papers.
Paperwork filed in county Common Pleas Court by GEM Systems, Ltd., which happens to own the Diamond Men’s Club licensing rights, claims that the Elyria location owes its namesake royalties – and has refused to pay them.
Although D & I Entertainment owner and club manager David Shapiro declines explaining further, he states that “We didn’t like what was going on,” and so the name was changed, with the intention of doing things differently.
GEM Systems is demanding more than $100,000 in unpaid royalties, as well as injunctions that would keep D & I from claiming any association with the Diamond Men’s Club name. Further, it seeks to bar D & I from making negative comments about the namesake club. It cancelled its contact with D & I effectively in late September.
As is the case for so many clubs in in so many towns, Elyria has been doing its best to shut down the pasty and thong-covered erotic dancer establishment, starting with its opening in February of 2006. The city has insisted that the club violates adult zoning ordinances by being positioned less than a quarter-mile from any other business that serves alcohol – including the nearby Holiday Inn hotel.
Club attorneys counter that the zoning restriction does not apply to Club 57 because its dancers do not become nude.
