Loss of liquor strips customers from club

Dan Kulin

Friday, Sept. 17, 2004 | 10:59 a.m.

Treasures strip club opened without alcohol as expected at 6 p.m. Thursday, and for at least the first couple of hours the multimillion-dollar club was also without customers and dancers.

Treasures will probably open again at 6 p.m. today, Alson Lee, a club general manager, said. But when it would close was unknown. It normally stays open through the weekend, closing 7 a.m. Monday, Lee said.

"We've been open for two and a quarter hours and we have not one entertainer or sold one soft drink," Lee said. "I don't know how long we can sustain this. We're unclear as to what we're going to do now, and even tomorrow."

Except for a handful of staff, the club was empty Thursday night, a day after the Las Vegas City Council decided not to give the club a permanent liquor license. Treasures' temporary liquor license expired at midnight Wednesday, at which time the club closed until 6 p.m. Thursday.

In a written statement provided by Lee, Treasures' management said: "Unfortunately, the decision to take away the liquor license has affected the lives of hundreds of employees and entertainers. It has put them in an economic hardship as they are looking for new jobs to maintain their current lifestyle. We feel that we are the cleanest club in town and the decision to take away our liquor license is grossly unjust. We hope that one day, justice will be served."

Lee said the owners of the club are "exploring all options right now."

He said there has been no talk of selling the club at this point.

City Council members have said Treasures' owners brought their troubles upon themselves. The owners, the Davari brothers of Houston, had problems at strip clubs they own in Houston that caused concern among Las Vegas council members when they decided to grant a temporary liquor license. Also, Treasures' attorney Mark Fiorentino promised the council during a 2001 hearing that the club would operate 100 percent above the law.

City Attorney Brad Jerbic has said that because of that promise from Fiorentino, the August prostitution conviction of a Treasures dancer was all the council needed to justify their decision.

Without a liquor license, Treasures could, and did, open as a topless strip club serving only nonalcoholic beverages.

To become an all-nude club, like other strip clubs that don't serve alcohol, Treasures would have to apply for a change to its erotic dance club license, Jerbic said.

Only a handful of customers, including a group of about seven that arrived in two limousines, ventured to Treasures' front door Thursday night. Once the Treasures staff told them the club could not serve alcohol, most quickly left the grounds.

Several dancers also came by the club, but Lee said they were coming to get copies of their business licenses, not to work.