High court affirms ban
on peep-show doors

An attorney maintains the ruling
will kill off harmless businesses

A Hawaii Supreme Court ruling yesterday means the death of peep shows in Hawaii, said a defense attorney who represents an adult video store.

The justices ruled yesterday that a city ordinance passed in April 1997 that banned doors on panoram booths, more commonly known as "peep shows," is not a violation of the public's right to privacy or speech.

The ruling affirmed a May 2003 judgment by the Circuit Court in favor of the city against Janra Enterprises Inc.

The corporation, doing business as Suzie's Adult Superstore, challenged the ordinance in September 1999 and was granted a court order staying its enforcement pending a decision from the high court. The high court ruled yesterday that the lower court issue an order allowing the city to begin enforcement.

City spokesman Bill Brennan said they are pleased with the court's decision but that they will have to review it before taking any action.

"This is the demise of the panoram booths," said defense attorney Earle Partington, who represents Suzie's, which has been in Waikiki for about two decades.

Without the privacy of closed doors on panoram booths, there will be no customers, he said.

The Hawaii economy gets a lot of money from tourists who frequent panoram booths, he said. "The City Council shot our economy in the foot and sends a message that we don't want tourist money on this."

He called the ordinance an example of the mentality of the "religious right," which has been successful in enforcing its values on the rest of the population. He expects that in the next 60 days all panoram booths at adult video stores will be ripped out if they cannot have a door or curtain.

Employees at two adult video stores said they still have doors on their panoram booths. One said they hope they will be given some time to comply with the law.

The City Council passed the law to curtail reported illegal activities within the panoram booths, including illegal drug dealing and prostitution.

Partington said those complaints were bogus and that the city passed the law to shut down panoram booths. Honolulu police or other city agencies had not received complaints about Suzie's or its panoram booths in its 20-plus years in Waikiki, he said. An employee said the store has been there for 33 years.

The owners of Suzie's had maintained that their customers use the fully enclosed panoram booths because they provide complete privacy and that if their doors were removed, Suzie's would lose virtually all its panoram clientele.

The city had argued that the open-booth requirement of the city ordinance is not content-based and that courts across the country have rejected claims that the requirement violate rights of free expression and privacy. The city also argued that the economic impact of the ordinance is not relevant to whether it is constitutional.