Treasures club may reopen soon

Dan Kulin

Friday, Feb. 11, 2005 | 10:50 a.m.

The opulent Treasures strip club may reopen as early as Wednesday night.

About four weeks after the lone conviction of a Treasures' dancer on charges of soliciting prostitution was overturned -- erasing a primary reason for the Las Vegas City Council's earlier denial of a liquor license -- the council is scheduled to vote Wednesday on whether to grant the club a permanent liquor license.

If the council approves the liquor license then a federal lawsuit filed by Treasures against the city would be dismissed, under the terms of a federal court order that sent the matter back to the council.

And Treasures General Manager Alson Lee said if all goes well for the club on Wednesday it will probably open that night.

However, it was unclear Thursday if the lack of a prostitution-related conviction will be enough for the council. In 2001, the council approved Treasures' first temporary liquor license only after a Treasures attorney promised the club would operate above the law and not fight any city efforts to revoke its liquor license if there was even one conviction for soliciting prostitution.

The license application was contentious because of a Metro Police background check found a history of prostitution, drug use, and other legal problems at the Texas strip clubs of Treasures owners and brothers Ali and Hassan Davari.

"Which direction we will go I have no idea," City Councilman Gary Reese said Thursday about the coming vote on Treasures. "Right now I'm not leaning either way."

But Reese also said that while the Davari brothers might have legal problems with the clubs they own in Houston, Treasures seemed to be run "about as well as the rest" of the strip clubs in the city.

"If they hadn't made that promise and got that conviction they would have their license already," Reese said.

Reese will lead the Treasures discussion during the Wednesday meeting because Mayor Oscar Goodman abstains from matters related to the club. One of Goodman's sons has been the attorney for Treasures' dancers.

Councilman Michael Mack also abstains from Treasures matters because he is a consultant for the club.

The club, highly visible from Interstate 15, opened in September 2003 at 2801 Westwood Drive. It closed about a year later when its temporary liquor license expired and the council declined to give the club another liquor license after Treasures dancer Jessica Crockett was convicted of soliciting prostitution.

The matter took a turn in Treasures' favor on Jan. 28 when District Court Judge Stewart Bell overturned Crockett's conviction.

According to a city statement, the federal court has ordered the council to reconsider Treasures' liquor license, and both sides have agreed that if the council approves the liquor license then the federal lawsuit will be dismissed.

"We feel good about getting the opportunity to go and get our license back," Lee said. "If all goes well we would probably make an attempt to open that night."