NEWPORT BEACH : Topless Bar Permit Appeal to Be Heard
The City Council is scheduled to hear an appeal from a businessman who wants to open the city’s first topless bar to be located near John Wayne Airport.
Last month, the Planning Commission voted 4 to 2 to deny a use permit to Al Nguyen, who wants to open a bar called Mermaids at 4248 Martingale Way and feature semi-nude and nude dancing as well as serve alcohol. Nguyen, who also owns Paddy Murphy’s, a topless dancing club in Santa Ana, is appealing that decision to the council.
The planning commissioners who voted against the project claimed that the parking was not sufficient to accommodate the visitors that the restaurant would attract. Since that decision, the City Council adopted an emergency adult entertainment ordinance in an attempt to regulate topless dancing in the city.
Meanwhile, renovation of the building that could one day become Mermaids is underway in a commercial area of Newport Beach. The project will include five “theater” stages, including large-screen TV and private viewing rooms where dancers will be separated from patrons by a three-foot glass wall.
Ronald Talmo, who represents Nguyen, has said because exotic dancing is a form of free speech the city does not have the legal footing to deny the use permit.
The City Council meeting begins at 7 p.m. Monday.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
