from www.gothamist.com – Hmm, is this a threat or a promise? The local Community Board in Long Island City is trying to block a liquor license sought by Gus Drakopoulos, who operates the Sin City strip club in the Bronx.

Drakopoulos wants to open another topless club near the Queensboro Bridge, and he’s willing to go nude nuclear if the SLA denies his license. According to state law, dancers in a strip club serving booze can only reveal their breasts. But sober gentlemen above the age of 18 are entitled to the Full Monty, and that’s what Drakopoulus is vowing to give them.

Drakopoulos tells the Daily News, “I’m not in the pizza business, I’m in the adult nightclub business. We have a right to open there.” And he maintains that his opponents have a distorted idea of Gentlemen’s Clubs, telling the Times Ledger that “strip clubs are not what they used to be from the 1980s where they’re these dingy places and all the crackheads are there.” Drakopoulos is trying to turn the two-story brick building, formerly the site of wholesaling company Smiley’s Flowers, into a club with 12 karaoke rooms and three bars.

But he faces heavy opposition. Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan has promised to ask the city Landmarks Preservation Commission to consider the building at 42-50 21st Street a landmark for its historical value, which would prevent Drakopoulos from changing it into a nightclub. Speaking to reporters yesterday, Nolan said, “Our community needs an arts center. We don’t need threats from an unscrupulous business owner.” Which reminds us of our rejected headline for this story: “Long Island City Threatened by Naked Women.”