Fowler Municipal Code Ch. 3 Dances, Dance Halls, and Other Entertainment

For the purposes of this chapter, unless otherwise apparent from the context, certain words and phrases used in this chapter are defined as follows:

(a) "Known", used in connection with the words "prostitute", "male or female procurer", or "vagrant", shall mean known to the manager, owner, or lessee of the public dance hall, to the person conducting a public dance, or to the police or other authorities having to do with the regulation or the supervision of public dance halls or public dances to be one of the persons named, or who has such reputation or character, or one who has pleaded guilty to or has been convicted of being a prostitute, male or female procurer, or vagrant.

(b) "Public dance" shall mean any dance to which the public generally may gain admission with or without the payment of a fee, or which is given or conducted in connection with the sale of food or drink in restaurants, cafes, or hotel dining rooms or other eating or drinking places to which the general public is admitted, or which is run or conducted for profit or given or conducted in connection with the provision of other amusement or entertainment for profit; provided, however, no dance, the income of which, over and above a sufficient sum to pay the actual expenses of the dance, is devoted to charity shall be considered a public dance, and no dance at which the only fee collected is a sufficient sum, prorated among the persons present, to pay the actual expenses of conducting the dance shall be considered a public dance.

(c) "Public dance hall" shall mean a room, place, or space in which a public dance shall be held or in which classes in dancing are held and instruction in dancing is given for hire.

(§ 1, Ord. 7-1)

Any person receiving a permit for conducting a dance hall, public place for dancing, or a public dance shall obtain the required license therefor from the City Clerk. The City Clerk shall not issue any license until the applicant procures a permit therefor as provided in this chapter.

(§ 14, Ord. 7-1)

No person shall hold or conduct any public dance, conduct a dance hall, hold or conduct classes in dancing, or give instruction in dancing for hire in any dance hall until the person owning or conducting the dance hall or other place in which the same may be held shall first have obtained a permit therefor as provided in this chapter.

(Ord. 7-1 § 8)

Any person desiring a permit to hold a public dance shall use substantially the following form of application:

Application For a Permit to Conduct a Public Dance

________2000

The undersigned hereby makes application for a permit to give a public dance at ___________, in the City of Fowler, on the _____ day of _______, 2000. It is hereby expressly agreed that said dance shall be conducted in strict accord with the provisions of law regulating public dances, and the undersigned agrees that the permit is given and accepted subject to the provisions of this application and that he shall be held responsible for any violation of any provision of law regulating any public dance.

The owner or lessee of the premises in which such dance is to be held is

(Ord. 7-1 § 12)

The application for a permit for a public dance shall be made to the Chief of Police, and he may grant such permit if the applicant is of good moral character.

Public dances shall be classified as follows:

(a) Class A: Cafe Dances. Cafe dances shall include any dancing in a restaurant, cafe, hotel dining room, or other eating place open to the general public or conducted for profit.

(b) Class B: Social Dances. Social dances shall include dances conducted by schools and educational, social, fraternal, religious, or charitable organizations where such dances are not open to the general public.

(c) Class C: Commercial Dances. Commercial dances shall conducting of public dances other than those covered by Classes A and B.

Permits under Class A shall not be issued for a period exceeding one month. Permits under Classes B and C shall not be issued for a period exceeding one year.

No Class A permit shall be issued unless the applicant therefor holds either a valid hotel license or restaurant license.

(Ord. 7-1 § 13)

A permit issued to any person to hold a public dance or to hold or conduct classes in dancing may be revoked for the violation of any provision of this chapter or of any law relating to such place or any rule or regulation promulgated thereunder. If at any time the permit of any person shall be revoked, no new permit shall be granted to such person or to any person who was an agent or employee of such person at the time of such violation or at the time of the application for a new permit.

(Ord. 7-1 § 10)

Any person desiring a permit to keep and conduct a public dance hall shall use substantially the following form of application:

Application For a Permit to Conduct a Dance Hall

________, 2000

The undersigned hereby makes application for a permit to keep and conduct a public dance hall at ___________, in the City of Fowler, State of California, from the date of the issuance of the permit to and including ___________, 2000. It is hereby expressly agreed that in the event this permit shall be issued, said public dance hall shall be conducted in strict accord with the provisions of law regulating public dance halls, and the undersigned agrees that the permit is given and accepted subject to the provisions of this application and that he shall be held responsible for violation of any provision of law regulating public dance halls.

There are _____ square feet of dancing space in said public dance hall.

The undersigned is the proprietor of the hall located at the above address, for which an application for keeping and conducting a public dance hall is hereby made.

(Ord. 7-1 § 11)

Applications for dance hall permits shall be made to the Council, but no such permit shall be granted until after an investigation and report by the Chief of Police, who shall recommend the granting or denial of the permit. Such recommendation by the Chief of Police shall not be controlling.

(Ord. 7-1 § 13)

No permit for a public dance hall shall be issued until it shall be found that the place for which such permit is issued complies with and conforms to all laws, the provisions of this chapter, and the health and fire regulations applicable thereto, is properly ventilated and supplied with separate and sufficient toilet conveniences for each sex within the building in which the dance hall is located, with no entrance thereto or exit therefrom except through the dance hall, and is a safe and proper place for the purpose for which it shall be used. Every person to whom a dance hall permit is issued shall post the permit in a conspicuous place in the dance hall for which the permit is granted.

(Ord. 7-1 § 9)

Every person who conducts a dance hall or place where public dancing is permitted shall appoint a respectable woman not under thirty (30) years of age who shall act as a general chaperon. The chaperon shall be present at all times when the dance hall or place is open to the public. It shall be her duty to see that the provisions of this chapter are enforced. The person so appointed shall be approved by the Chief of Police, and the Chief of Police may revoke such approval. No public dance shall be conducted without the presence of such chaperon. In the event of the illness of the chaperon, the Chief of Police may give temporary permission to conduct a public dance for one day only without the presence of the chaperon. The compensation of such chaperon shall be paid by the person conducting, owning, or managing such dance hall.

(§ 2, Ord. 7-1)

All public dances shall be discontinued and all public dance halls shall be closed on and after 2:00 a.m. of any day, and no public dance shall be held between the hours of 2:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. of any day; provided, however, it shall be lawful for public dances and public dance halls to remain open until 5:00 am. on New Year's Day.

(§ 5, Ord. 7-1)

No person holding a public dance shall permit any person who has not reached the age of eighteen (18) years to attend or remain at any public dance unless such person shall be accompanied by his parent or legal guardian. No person shall falsely represent himself to have reached the age of eighteen (18) years in order to attend or remain at any public dance, and no person shall falsely represent himself to be a parent or legal guardian of any person in order that such person may attend or remain at any public dance. The fact that a person under the age of eighteen (18) years secured admission to any such dance hall under false representations as to age, or false representations that he was accompanied by a parent or guardian, shall be no defense to the person holding such dance in prosecutions for violations of the provisions of this chapter, nor that such person was admitted by an employee.

(§ 4, Ord. 7-1)

The admission fee for a public dance or public dance hall shall entitle any person paying such fee to participate in all dancing, and no separate or individual fee shall be charged or collected for participation in any individual dance. No passout or return checks shall be issued. Persons leaving the dance hall and its anterooms, unless accompanied by a police officer, the public chaperon, or the manager of the dance to whom such permit shall be issued, or one of his employees, shall not be readmitted thereto, except upon the payment of the regular admission fee. The readmission of such person without the payment of such fee shall constitute a violation of the provisions of this section and be grounds for the revocation of the permit under which such dance is conducted.

(§ 7, Ord. 7-1)

No person to whom a permit to conduct a dance hall is issued, nor any person conducting a public dance or dancing class pursuant to a permit issued by the provisions of this chapter, shall allow or permit in any dance hall any indecent act to be committed, any vulgar dancing to be indulged in, any disorder or conduct of a gross, vulgar, or violent character, or any known prostitute, pimp, vagrant, or procurer. Any member of the Police Department, or other properly constituted authority of the City, shall be admitted free of charge to any public dance hall, and such persons shall have the power, and it shall be the duty of each of them, to cause any dance hall to be vacated whenever any provision of this chapter or of any regulation or law concerning dance halls has been or is being violated; or whenever any regulation or law of any character shall be violated; or whenever any indecent act shall be committed or any vulgar dance indulged in; or whenever any disorder or conduct of a gross, violent, or vulgar character shall take place therein; or whenever any known prostitute, pimp, or procurer shall be found to be present in such place. No person under the influence of alcoholic beverages shall be permitted to remain at any public dance.

(§ 3, Ord. 7-1)

No known prostitute, male or female procurer, pimp, or vagrant shall be present at any public dance or at any public dance hall.

(§ 6, Ord. 7-1)

No owner, proprietor, manager, or other person having the charge or control of any cafe or restaurant shall allow or permit any person employed in any such cafe or restaurant for the purpose of entertaining the guests thereof to pass among or mingle with the guests or to pass along the aisles or between the tables of any such cafe or restaurant during the course of any entertainment.

No person employed in any cafe or restaurant for the purpose of entertaining the guests thereof shall pass among or mingle with the guests or pass along the aisles or between the tables of any such cafe or restaurant during the course of any entertainment.

(§§ 15 and 16, Ord. 7-1)

No operator of any bar, restaurant, or cafe, where any of the income of the owner or operator of such establishment is obtained from the sale at retail of intoxicating beverages, shall conduct or maintain any entertainment at the place where such business is conducted and maintained behind locked doors at any time.

(§ 17, Ord. 7-1)

(a) No person engaged in conducting or operating, either as owner, proprietor, operator, manager, lessee, agent, or employee, any restaurant, cafe, nightclub, barroom, theater, arcade, entertainment, or exhibition, or any person whatsoever, shall give, or cause or permit to be given, advertise, or cause or permit to be advertised, or participate in any obscene, indecent, or immoral production, picture, show, entertainment, or exhibition, any delineation or illustration of any nude human figure, any lewd, indecent, or lascivious act, or any matter or thing of an obscene, indecent, or immoral nature.

(b) No person, either as owner, manager, producer, director, actor, or agent, or who shall act in any other capacity, shall give, direct, present, or participate in any obscene, indecent, immoral, or impure drama, play, exhibition, show, or entertainment, or any obscene, indecent, immoral, or impure scene, tableau, incident, part, or portion of any drama, play, exhibition, show, or entertainment which tends to corrupt the morals of youth or others or which depicts or deals with the subject or theme of sex degeneracy, sex perversions, or sex inversion.

(c) No person shall exhibit publicly, or offer for public exhibition, or keep or place accessible to the public any lewd, vulgar, obscene, or licentious picture or keep, maintain, or place accessible to the public any mechanical device rendering any lewd, vulgar, obscene, or licentious song, speech, jest, monologue, dialogue, or reproduction of the human voice uttering immoral, obscene, lewd, vulgar, licentious, or profane words.

(§ 18, Ord. 7-1)

(a) No person who performs or acts as an entertainer in any place where alcoholic beverages are sold or consumed shall perform or do the so-called strip tease or any other act, dance, or performance where the actions of the performer are such as to arouse the passions or sexual desires or disturb the dignity of any person present.

(b) No person, actor, or entertainer shall do the so-called bumps or grinds or gyrate or gesticulate his body, or any part of it, so as to arouse the passions or sexual desires or disturb the dignity of any person present.

(c) No actor or entertainer shall appear on the stage of any place where alcoholic beverages are sold or consumed, or appear before other persons for the purposes of entertainment, unless properly and decently clothed, and at no time while acting as an entertainer shall such entertainer remove any part of his clothing or unfasten, lower, raise, or pull aside any part of his clothing so as to expose any part of his body in such a way as to arouse the passions or sexual desires or disturb the dignity of any person present.

(§ 19, Ord. 7-1)