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Officials Want To Shut Down Bikini Coffeeshop
Seems like a chill place (Photo via Facebook)
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Prudish officials are trying to shut down a coffee house where they say—gasp—customers smoke and waitresses show a little too much. Stanton city officials filed a suit in the Orange County Superior Court against GZ Cafe, a Vietnamese coffeehouse, last month, the OC Register reports. There are several similar coffee shops in the Little Saigon area. Here, customers get a coffee and enjoy the company of the waitstaff, which is typically comprised of women wearing very little. Garden Grove has cited these types of businesses for indoor smoking and nudity in the past. GZ Cafe used to be located in Garden Grove when it opened in 2011, but moved to Stanton in December for cheaper rent.
At GZ Cafe, the women wear bikinis while they work. The cafe's Facebook page shows several woman in bikinis that supposedly worked there.
In Garden Grove, the cafe received seven citations for nudity and several more for smoking, according to Garden Grove Police Lt. Ed Leiva. While nudity in Garden Grove may result in a citation, it's a misdemeanor in Stanton that carries a possible six months in a jail and a $1,000 fine.
GZ Cafe's owner told the Register that the "environment is relaxing," and that customers are not allowed to smoke indoors. OC Register reported smelling cigarette smoke when they visited the new Stanton shop, but that no one was visibly smoking at the time.
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The cafe has one supporter in a man who owns a barbershop next door. He says the cafe increases foot traffic and is good for local business.
This wouldn't be the first time an establishment where men come to spend time with attractive women has been target by city officials. LAPD recently warned that employees at hostess or fichera bars—where men buy women a drink in exchange for their time, which may include conversation or dancing—were scamming male customers. Most customers of fichera bars, however, probably know what they're getting into when they visit.
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