The Community Board 2 Business Committee voted unanimously after a packed meeting on Tuesday against a liquor license for Forty Deuce, a burlesque club proposed for the ground floor of 19 Kenmare St.
More than 200 neighbors, some waiving posters that said “No Nudity” over pictures of nearly naked women, turned up at St. Anthony of Padua’s basement meeting hall on Sept. 11 to oppose the club proposed by Ivan Kane, who owns two clubs of the same name, one in Las Vegas and the other in Los Angeles.
Kane and his associates made a personal pitch at the meeting, saying the club was not a strip club but a sedate and old-fashion burlesque house. There would be no nudity or lap dancing, and an adult entertainment permit is not required, the group said.
But opponents were not moved. Ray Lee, committee chairperson, said later that “We listened to the grassroots sentiments about Forty Deuce and decided a burlesque club that stays open until 4 a.m. was not a good fit in a residential area already saturated with more than 20 bars and clubs.”
The committee is recommending that the full community board vote on Sept 20 to ask the State Liquor Authority to deny the license. Last April the full board had voted to recommended granting the liquor license. But neighbors, including Sook Ling Lai, director of the Chinatown Head Start program on Mott St. a block away from the Kenmare St. location, urged the community board in June to reverse the recommendation, and the board complied.
Forty Deuce, named after the slang term for 42nd St., has celebrity investors like David Bowie and Sting, and would have three serving bars in a 4,500-square-foot vacant space formerly occupied by Charlie’s Clam Bar.
— Albert Amateau
