Nude Dance Club Seeks OK From City Council

Will nude women dance for pay in Simi Valley? The City Council is poised to answer that question Monday when it hears an appeal by a local businessman who has been pushing to open a nude dance club in western Simi Valley.

Proponent Phil Young lost his bid March 6 to open the Mirages Cabaret when the Planning Commission ruled it would be too near to two sensitive businesses: a youth karate studio and a Bible school.

Young appealed the ruling to the City Council two days later. Neither TKO Martial Arts nor the Joshua Institute had even filed for operating permits back in February 1995 when Young began negotiating with a city attorney to see if the strip club could open, he argued.

But a city report says the karate studio opened April 15, 1995, long before Young’s formal application was filed. And the city was required to issue a ministerial permit to the Joshua Institute after it won a zoning clearance from the city Dec. 6, the report says.

Young said Friday he is hopeful the city will grant his appeal. But if it is rejected, he said, he will take the issue to court on the basis of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that forbids any city from completely prohibiting nude dance clubs.