Club to challenge fine
levied over ‘ladies’ night’
The Honolulu Liquor Commission has agreed to give the Blue Tropix Restaurant and Nightclub a hearing Jan. 8 for reconsideration of its $500 fine for discriminating against men.
The fine was levied as a default judgment at a Nov. 30 hearing when a club official failed to appear, but he had telephoned the commission staff that he was ill.
The nightclub at 1700 Kapiolani Blvd. was fined for offering a "ladies' night" in which women were admitted free and men had to pay.
The fine was based on a commission rule that prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender in any goods, privileges or services provided by a liquor license holder. There is a similar prohibition in the state's civil rights act.
Deputy Corporation Counsel Debi Tulang DeSilva told the commission at the November hearing that investigators would have been able to testify that on Aug. 13 they witnessed women being let in free at Blue Tropix while men were paying. They went there after hearing a radio advertisement that it was "ladies' night" and that ladies would get in free, she said.
The commission agreed on Dec. 11 to grant the hearing.
Also on Dec. 11, the commission fined Club L'Seduction Inc., now known as Linda's, $1,000 for allowing a customer to fondle a dancer. Commission investigators said they witnessed the incident on a routine inspection at the Wahiawa club at 39 S. Kamehameha Highway. The business pleaded no contest to the charge.