Posted on 12/18/2004 5:47:52 AM PST by freebilly
SANTA CRUZ — A threatening phone call from a man who refused to identify himself caused downtown lingerie store Camouflage to nix pole dancing behind a covered window Friday and tonight.
The Pacific Avenue store was the target of public criticism this week after announcing plans for erotic dancers dressed in Santa Claus-themed outfits to dance on a pole in the store window as part of a holiday promotion.
Lap dances for customers who spent $100 were also part of the original idea, however, store owner Joan Levine modified the plans after city officials complained and agreed to cover the window with paper to prevent people walking down Pacific Avenue from inadvertently seeing the pole dancers and lap dancers.
Camouflage general manager Rose Matkin said she received the call at 6:15 p.m. Thursday from a man who launched into a tirade and warned, "Don’t cross a man whose convictions are as strong as mine."
Matkin said the man called her and her colleagues sinners.
To ease his concerns, Matkin said she tried explaining to the man how the store had tweaked its window show to keep the dancers out of the public eye.
According to Matkin, the caller threatened vandalism and "repercussions that could hurt me worse than that."
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Matkin hung up on the man and called police.
Levine decided to cancel the show as a safety precaution for her employees and customers.
"We didn’t want to put anyone at risk," she said. "We’re not here to make a political point. We’re here to encourage fun, love and romance."
Two local groups told the Sentinel they planned to protest the event.
Media Watch, a local education and activism organization, said it was outraged by the idea of women dancing provocatively in a store window.
The organization had planned to team with Santa Cruz Art and Revolution, another local activist group, to protest Camouflage’s event by staging a rally at the store.
Didn't Micheal Jackson's attorney say that too?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1303961/posts
What a horribly bad idea - but, then, it IS Kalifornia!!
Good King Wenceslas had been replaced by Good Queen Wenchesass ?
How hateful!
I thought Santa Cruz had outlawed hate.
Santa Cruisin'
They did. The caller must be from Soquel....
I think this is a variation on Festivus.
The organization had planned to team with Santa Cruz Art and Revolution, another local activist group, to protest Camouflage’s event by staging a rally at the store.
Such a dilemma! Who do I side with, the strip club owner or the whack-jobs over at Art & Revolution...?
Ah, what the heck. I need a lapdance tonight!
Ahh yea Insanity Cruz again.
Santa Claus may be planning a visit from the North Pole soon, but the instructors at Goddess Exotic have a whole different kind of naughty and nice in mind for downtown Santa Cruz on Friday and Saturday nights.
Four instructors from the Santa Cruz-based exotic dance business will pole dance in the window of Camouflage, the downtown lingerie and adult products store from 6-9 p.m.
The event will also feature a "lap-dance lotto," with customers who spend more than $100 entered into a lottery that’s drawn every hour. The winner receives a free lap dance.
Jenni Goudge, Goddess Exotic owner-founder, insists all of the dances will be "PG-13."
"It’s such a beautiful art form," she said of pole dancing. "It’s so funny that it’s so taboo just because it’s been in environments where men have enjoyed it. Once you take it out of a certain environment that might be uncomfortable for some people, you can see how beautiful it is."
The lap-dance lotto will also be done in the window, or in the store depending on the recipient’s preference, said Goudge, but the lap dances will be "out in public and very PG-13. Most of the intrigue of the lap dance is the scandalous idea of the lap dance."
The women will be dressed in Santa Claus-themed outfits, according to Camouflage owner Joan Levine.
But Ann J. Simonton, the Santa Cruz model-turned-activist who started the local education and activism organization Media Watch, says what the dancers are wearing is hardly the point.
"What Media Watch believes in terms of the sex industry is that it’s not a victimless industry," she said. "The popularity of poles is not without consequence, and what the consequence is, is telling women what they’re good for is taking their clothes off."
Simonton said she sees trouble in a culture in which people "can’t relate to one another emotionally, but it’s all about how you look and what you can do for me."
Levine sees it as all in a day’s business.
"It’s a craze, it’s a trend, it’s very popular right now that women are wanting to learn this and practice it," she said. "It’s not going to be obscene or naked or bare. It’s not X-rated. There’s not anything illegal about it. It’s just for fun."
She also expects it to attract customers.
"I think people like to do things that are a little bit different or unusual," she said. "It’s just going to be kind of fun and Santa Cruz style, more wholesome."
Camouflage is at 1329 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz.
Contact Gwen Mickelson at gmickelson@santacruzsentinel.com.
I'm just trying to figure out what type of person WOULDN'T be outraged by this.......
We don't need no stinkin' tinsel
Just a silver strippers' pole
'Tis no time for Silent Nightin'
Put some soul into your soul....
"Camouflage-- We Put The X back in Xmas...."
Bummer....
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