Casbah Nightspot Owner Sues Over La Habra Limits on Dancers

An observer can see more flesh any day at the beach than on the bikini-clad dancers at the Casbah A Go-Go in La Habra, Joshua Kaplan, a lawyer for the nightspot, said Thursday in renewing a licensing battle with city officials.

Owner Eric Bewley claims in a lawsuit filed Thursday in Orange County Superior Court that restrictions imposed by the City of La Habra on his plans for live entertainment at his East Whittier Boulevard establishment make it impossible for him to do business.

City Atty. Robert D. Jones said he was “surprised” by the lawsuit, contending that La Habra City Council members had merely tried to limit any contact between dancers and Casbah patrons. Bewley’s lawsuit challenges a requirement that a rope barricade be erected to keep patrons at least six feet away from the dancers. In discussions with the city last month, Jones said, he thought Bewley had agreed.

The city attempted to revoke the Casbah’s license last year after undercover police officers observed contact between dancers and patrons, Jones said. The dispute was resolved when Bewley agreed to discontinue the performances and ask the council for formal permission to stage the shows.

But Bewley wasn’t satisfied after the negotiations with the city. The six-foot zone doesn’t leave enough room in the small club to conduct business and it violates Bewley’s rights of free speech, according to his lawyer, Kaplan.

Kaplan claims the city is “trying to do indirectly what they couldn’t do last year--shut him down. “We’re not talking about exposure of any portion of the female anatomy that is considered to be private,” Kaplan said.

Jones denied Kaplan’s assertion, saying six-foot setbacks have been approved by courts as reasonable restrictions where topless performances are staged. Such a limit also is reasonable for the Casbah A Go-Go, Jones said.