Lawsuit Threatened Over Banned Nude Dance Club

LONG BEACH — Would-be developers of an adults-only club have vowed to take the city to court now that officials have prohibited them from employing nude dancers.

The City Council last week approved an entertainment permit for the controversial club, Flamingo, but said the permit would prohibit nude dancing and physical contact between the dancers and patrons.

Council members said they were acting on the authority of a local ordinance that bans such activities. The ordinance took effect Jan. 1.

The owners of the proposed club, Max Ahmadi and Vasken Tatarian, say they will fight the decision in court. The men, who own a nude dancing club in Anaheim, say their club should be given a permit for nude dancing and “couch dancing,” because they applied for the necessary permits more than a year ago, prior to the ordinance.

Their lawyer, Robert Talmo, said the city should have acted on their applications sooner. Earlier in the process, the men won zoning approval for the proposed club.

City officials, however, say they stand on solid ground when it comes to the nude dancing ban.

Assistant City Atty. Heather Mahood said the new city ordinance is similar to a Newport Beach law that was upheld by a state appeals court in December.

Although the ordinance bans nudity citywide, an existing adults-only club, Angels, can continue to operate in Long Beach because it existed before the new law.

Mahood said the city would not grandfather Flamingo in because the developers had not obtained an entertainment permit when the ordinance took effect.