Club Onyx in Houston loses latest court case

5/10/2020 4:00:27 PM

Club Onyx had a temporary injunction to reopen last week and be classified as a restaurant. Under those rules, they had to have at most 25% capacity, and serve food primarily instead of alcohol. They were allowed to have dancers, but they had to wear masks and social distance. That meant a six foot barrier around the stage and no lap dances.

The club got a permanent ruling yesterday. The ruling is that they can stay open but only as a restaurant. There can be no dancers, even clothed ones. It remains to be seen if the club will choose to stay open. This effectively closes a loophole that other clubs may have been looking to exploit.

10 comments

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Garfield84

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5 years ago

I’ve been to onyx Houston Back in 2009 or 2019. In either case, it wasn’t that eventful. I may or may have written a review. If I didn’t write a review on an out of town S.C. , that should tell you it was terrible

twboyhouston

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5 years ago

Agreed, Club Onyx is not one of the better clubs in Houston. However, it is notable because it was the first to try and re-open, and it was trying to do so by creating a new legal loophole. If it had worked, it would have been quite likely that at least a few clubs would have tried to follow their lead. The real issue is that there is no end in site for the closing of clubs in Texas. In the last couple of days, the governor has done two things that has cast even more doubt on club reopenings. One, he said he has not set a reopening date for any bars or clubs because he cannot figure out how bars and clubs can operate under social distancing rules. Two, he explicitly added sexually oriented businesses (strip clubs, massage parlors, etc) to the list of businesses that will be indefinitely closed. That is why clubs here in Texas are looking for any loopholes. Buck's Wild club in Fort Worth was just allowed to re-open but as a restaurant (it's a BYOB place anyways) but with no dancers, even clothed ones. I don't know what the attraction will be for any customers, but we'll see what they can do.

Papi_Chulo

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5 years ago

With all the concerns about opening up I don't think strip clubs will get much consideration or benefit of the doubt

Bavarian

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5 years ago

I’m still optimistic about strip clubs opening when bars do.

The BucksWild Fort Worth IG comment section says they have dancers. Probably stage only.

If strip clubs are not allowed to open when bars do, dancers will have to find another line of work.

twboyhouston

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5 years ago

You are right. Bucks Wild can have dancers but they must be fully clothed and wear masks and gloves. There will be stage dancing but no lap dances.
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/courts/2…

Papi_Chulo

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5 years ago

Yeah - I wonder if BYOB SCs will fall in some kinda loophole - if they don't sell alcohol then they are not a bar -I assume LE will still find a way to keep them closed till the end

StPaul101

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5 years ago

this thread got me to thinking, the Lamplighter in St Paul has the girls dance behind glass,. because of local city ordnances as they serve alcohol. This could finally work as an advantage to reopening the bar\club... maybe.

Locutusbrg

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5 years ago

The clubs will have no legal leverage untill hair and nail stuff goes live once they say strangers can touch for non critical purposes.... then clubs have a legal leg to stand on but even then it isn't going to be easy.

mark94

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5 years ago

Saying that bars are opening is shorthand for “ bars are opening with 25% capacity, face masks, and strict 6 foot rules”. Just because a strip club “ opens” doesn’t mean we have a green light for fun.

mark94

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5 years ago

Ah, the lamplighter. That brings back memories from a long, long time ago.

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