Commission upholds
revocation of Golden
Dolls’ liquor license

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By Leila Fujimori
lfujimori@starbulletin.com

The Honolulu Liquor Commission has denied a request to reconsider its vote to revoke the license of Golden Dolls Showgirls.

Commissioners voted 3-2 yesterday to adopt findings and order to revoke the bar's liquor license despite allegations that the bar was being treated unfairly.

Golden Dolls will have 15 days to seek a stay against the order from today.

David Gierlach, lawyer for the bar, said he will file a motion for a stay, then appeal the matter in Circuit Court. "We're confident this illegal decision will be reversed," Gierlach said.

The bar had been found guilty of eight violations of time records, five violations of unregistered nude dancers and a violation of an underage dancer who was 17.

Police conducted an undercover operation Sept. 15 by renting a second-floor room of the club for a bachelor party.

Attorneys for Golden Dolls Showgirls said the second floor was de-licensed and, therefore, not under the jurisdiction of the Liquor Commission. Customers would bring their own liquor, and the bar did not serve liquor on that floor.

The action against the bar, located at 939 Keeaumoku St., was delayed four months after the initial vote June 28 because the city's lawyers postponed hearings three times due to further investigation.

Gierlach said a June 19, 2000, licensing investigative report, obtained from a commission investigator, showed the de-licensing of the second floor had been approved by staffer John Carroll, who acted on behalf of the commission administrator.

Paul Tsukiyama, city deputy corporation counsel, argued the commission had never given the authority of a staff member to de-license a portion of the premises.

Gierlach also said the Liquor Commission's file on Golden Dolls, which should have contained the document, has been missing since before June 28.

But commission chairman John Spierling said, "But you know and I know that paper never came before the commission."

Golden Dolls' attorney Michael Green said: "The woman's file is gone. We're talking about a woman's livelihood and you're holding it against her."

Green said maybe the owner, Yvonne Dang, should have been fined but should not have had her license taken away.

In response to Spierling's reminder that a minor was involved in the Golden Dolls' case, Green said it was a technical violation because the minor had presented a false birth certificate to the bar owner, and that his client had never had prior violations.

Green said the testimony of police officers on June 28, upon which the commission relied to make their initial decision, has been proven false.