The Penthouse Club of Baltimore is reopening Friday, March 5 with live adult entertainment after the city reached a settlement with the club that included approval of its customer safety plan.
Andrew B. Saller, the attorney representing The Penthouse Club, argued in the suit filed in federal court that the city’s ban on adult entertainment violated the First Amendment.
“The city singled out adult entertainment without any merit, and there’s no rational basis to do so, and that makes it unconstitutional,” says Saller, managing partner at Saller, Lord, Ernstberger & Insley.
The club’s lawsuit claimed that while the city had approved live entertainment at other venues, it required adult entertainment venues to remain closed. It stated “The [executive order] specifically and unabashedly targets adult entertainment venues. There is not even an attempt to cloak the [executive order] with any other meaning. All live entertainment is permitted except adult entertainment venues.”
“We are thrilled to be resuming live entertainment and that our staff members will be able to return to work. Our dancers, as well as other employees, have been unemployed since early December and it made the holidays and the months after hard for them.” – Penthouse Baltimore owner Brian Shulman
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott signed an executive order Dec. 11 calling for the closure of “indoor recreational establishments.” The order included bowling alleys, skating rinks, social and fraternal clubs, hookah lounges and adult entertainment venues. It forced restaurants to bar indoor and outdoor dining and capped the number of visitors to retail and religious institutions, gyms, malls and museums at 25 percent of capacity.
When Scott relaxed restrictions he permitted other forms of live entertainment including theaters but excluded live adult entertainment. He also relaxed restrictions on DJs, tattoo parlors, massage parlors and gyms.
“Adult entertainment is a permissible First Amendment activity and should not have been restricted,” Saller says.
In the agreement with the city, The Penthouse Club agreed to adhere to guidance provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Maryland Department of Health and the Baltimore City Health Department.
“We are thrilled to be resuming live entertainment and that our staff members will be able to return to work,” says Brian Shulman, the club’s owner. “Our dancers, as well as other employees, have been unemployed since early December and it made the holidays and the months after hard for them.
“I do want to thank the mayor and city council for their willingness to examine our safety plan and for balancing their duty to the citizens of Baltimore with the guarantees of the First Amendment,” Shulman says.
The Penthouse Club, at 615 Fallsway, Baltimore, reopens with live adult entertainment on Friday, March 5, at 3 p.m.
