Honolulu Lite
When I was a cub reporter working at my first newspaper in Wheeling, W.Va., I was a member of several private clubs, despite my whopping salary of about $8,500 a year. Private clubs may
see through smokeThese weren't Oahu Country Club or Pacific Club types of private clubs. These were generally grubby little bars that served cheap beer and sandwiches. The one the late-night newspaper crowd frequented was Ye Olde Alpha Club, a dingy, smoky bar as narrow as a railroad box car with the stuffed heads of moose, deer and other critters hanging on the wall. The decor was "Dying Steel Town," right out of a scene from the movie "The Deer Hunter," which was not so surprising considering some of the movie was shot just a few chemical discharges up the Ohio River in Stubenville.
There were lots of "private clubs" like Ye Olde Alpha Club mainly because Wheeling was a dry town and bars that served alcohol were illegal.
Private clubs, however, were legal. And so all the bars became "private clubs," and anyone could join the club by virtue of walking through the front door and signing a piece of paper.
I recalled Ye Olde Alpha Club when it became clear that the Honolulu City Council is on the verge of passing a strict ban on smoking in restaurants and, no doubt, eventually in bars.
Obviously, many people are in favor of the smoking bans in spite of how Hawaii depends on tourists, and many of those tourists smoke.
But the fact is that smoking, though disgusting and bad for your health, is legal. And people are going to smoke.
The question is, will smoking restrictions lead to the establishment of "private clubs," where people of like mind can eat, drink and puff away?
Will some entrepreneur open private dining clubs catering to Japanese tourists, sort of Ye Olde Alpha Smoking Clubs?
And would the anti-smoking crowd even care if a bunch of degenerates want to get together in a private club to set about destroying their lungs in unison?
Those questions may already be moot. City Council Chairman Jon Yoshimura's office staff told me that private clubs will be subject to the new smoking restrictions.
City Councilman Steve Holmes' office said that the term "restaurant" in the law specifically refers to any place that serves food to the public, including private clubs.
That would seem to nix any idea that certain restaurants will suddenly be changing their names to Ye Olde Compadres Club and Ye Olde Ruth's Chris Steak House Club.
But that may change when the smoking ban inevitably closes in on bars.
As lawmakers are finding out regarding the controversial speeding camera enforcement program, laws are not written in concrete. And sometimes overly restrictive laws simply go up in smoke.
Alo-Ha! Friday compiles odd bits of news from Hawaii
and the world to get your weekend off to an entertaining start.
Charles Memminger also writes Honolulu Lite Mondays,
Wednesdays and Sundays. Send ideas to him at the
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-210,
Honolulu 96813, phone 235-6490 or e-mail cmemminger@starbulletin.com.
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