Pa Clubs and Nudity

I received comments concerning my webpage, Pennsylvania Drinking Laws, from a reader who brought to my attention an error on my part with respect to nudity in licensed establishments. I was aware that establishments in Pennsylvania that have a liquor license were prohibited from having nudity within the place. What I was unaware of that this prohibition has been rescinded.

The US 3^rd Circuit Court of Appeals struck down (in 2006) Pennsylvania’s law on lewd behavior in licensed establishments. It did uphold New Jersey’s law on lewdness. The rulings were based on interpretations on the First Amendment of the US Constitution. In Pennsylvania, clubs (not bars) can permit nude dancing. As a club, they are private and everyone entering must be a member (40 Pa Code 5.72). Bars are open to the public. Clubs may allow dancing whereas bars have restrictions disallowing entertainment such as dancing. These are two clauses that distinguish a club from a bar.

So, in as much as a club can serve alcohol and have nude dancing, don’t look for an influx of booze and babes clubs to open soon. There are several reasons it is to a clubs advantage to not have a liquor license. Having another government bureaucracy control their activity seems like a good reason not to have a license.

In doing a bit more research on this I stumbled on Title 17 of the Pennsylvania Code. Apparently the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has something to say about booze and babes. Somehow my mind is working with the combination of nude dancing and natural resources, but let’s not take this further.

Section 23.12 prohibits possession and consumption of alcohol on state forest picnic areas. Disorderly conduct, indecent exposure, and obscene or lewd acts or dress is prohibited in section 23.24.

I will be updating my page (http://pubnetwork.com/pennsylvaniadrinkinglaws.html) soon but I wanted to get this posted to address my reader’s comments. He also gave me some other feedback that I am reviewing for my update. I always enjoy positive feedback as it helps get the information corrected.

School Zones

Ok, I was driving past a school on my way the local market and remembered how is was when I was a kid going to that school. Back then we had a bar on one corner and things were fine. That bar is long gone and under current LCB law you can't have a new bar within a given radius of a school. I ask why? Will the little tykes get a buss on if they smell the beer. Will they try and come in when they hear the baseball game on the TV? How are they being protected from evil bar if they can walk past hundreds of them when they are out of school? I wish I knew. But, if bars can't be near schools should kids be allowed to be near bars? What would dad's do? How can you take little Eddie to the playground if you can't stop off for one first? These are serious questions of the day.

This is similar to universities. One local U does not allow adverts in the school rag from beer distributors. The students are probably their biggest customer base. Yet for the ban on the ads they permit beer and wine appreciation classes. So how do they advertise the class? Clearly I have nothing to do today but at least you guys have something to talk about!!!

At The Bar

What’s on the bar next to your drink? I was sitting at an upscale Strip District bar when a man came in and placed his hat on the bar. The bartender politely asked to remove it from the bar. The bartender had experience with men’s hats and the creatures found living it them. Since then I always noticed if somebody puts a hat on a bar. I keep quiet about that but I see what the bar staff does: typically nothing, sad to say. One thing we do leave on the bar is cash. In the states one can leave money out on the bar, take two weeks vacation and return to fine it untouched. It is assumed that if you touch somebody’s money on a bar you risk broken bones. On an early trip to London I bought a round of drinks and left my money out on the bar for the world to see. My friend quickly updated me on English pub edict which one is to remove his money when change is returned. I never forgot that one. On a recent visit to a well-run London pub I saw a lad place a bag on the bar. When the bartender spotted the contents of the bag he asked the owner to remove the bag. It contained a pair of new, off the shelf shoes. I was ok with that but it was not proper. Nobody, including the bartender knew why, but it just wasn’t done. Speculation had it that shoes on a bar in a pub were bad luck.

So here is my question. What have you seen on a bar that you thought should be best left off? Remember, we not only drink on the bar but eat as well. Woman’s purses should be ok but what about shopping bags? Some men’s only bars have women (I though it was men’s only?) who dance to pay for the cloths they don’t have. I wouldn’t want to eat a meal in a place like that but I doubt that they have a kitchen anyway. The most bazaar happened decades ago. Friends of mine were drinking in a South Side tavern when a local gent approached them. He needed to use the gent’s room and asked them to keep an eye on something he had. When they agreed he promptly removed his false teeth, placed them on the bar and walked off. I would have put a hat over it.