Judge Rules Bar’s Location Precludes Topless Dancers

A federal judge ruled Monday that Pasadena laws governing adult businesses are valid and that an east Pasadena bikini bar cannot showcase topless dancers at its location in an industrial area of the city.

U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins granted the city’s motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit filed against it by the owner of the Twenty/20 Gentlemen’s Club, who in 1995 challenged municipal zoning laws that limit where adult businesses can operate.

The club, in the 3500 block of East Foothill Boulevard, has been the subject of protests by residents of the nearby Lower Hastings Ranch neighborhood.

“This victory means the plaintiff cannot operate an adult business at this location,” said Bernard Kaufman, a lawyer for the city. “Therefore dancers cannot go topless or do things considered specific sexual conduct.”

Roger Diamond, an attorney for the club, said the ruling will be appealed. “These issues usually go to a jury,” he said.

In her 32-page ruling, Collins wrote that city zoning laws did not outlaw adult businesses and that there are 11 to 16 sites available in “commercial general” areas of the city--away from churches and schools--for such businesses, according to the club’s own expert’s testimony.

The club had also claimed that the city had rezoned the area to a general commercial zone under which the business would be allowed, but Collins ruled that that claim was incorrect.