Ft. Wayne, Indiana- Think what you will of Dino Zurzolo's new million-dollar business, but give him credit for this: He doesn't worry about being politically correct.
"This is a strip club," the 36-year-old operations manager said unapologetically as he stood in the unfinished lobby of the five-level Shangri-La East being built next to a pawn shop in the 1000 block of Coliseum Boulevard North just south of Lake Avenue. . When it opens next month, Fort Wayne resident Zurzolo said, Shangri-La East will be the largest so-called "gentlemen's club" in Fort Wayne - and among the largest in Indiana.
It also will be the first new strip club since City Council in early 2001 passed zoning laws designed to limit - but not outlaw - sex-oriented businesses.
"Fort Wayne is supposed to be the 'City of Churches,' but council doesn't deserve a medal. They just did the minimum," said Micah Clark, executive director of the American Family Association of Indiana, which four years ago dismissed the City Council's action as "too little, too late."
Because the Supreme Court won't allow cities to ban strip clubs outright, city Deputy Director of Development Greg Leatherman said, the council established a new zoning category for businesses such as Shangri-La East. They can't locate within 1,000 feet of a school, church or home, for example - or within 1,000 feet of another strip club, for that matter, which prevents so-called "red-light districts."
With less than 1.4 percent of the land in Fort Wayne zoned for use by strip clubs, Leatherman believes the city's laws are plenty restrictive.
Zurzolo agrees, pointing out Shangri-La East's owner, the 1002 Corp. of Fort Wayne, bought Cagney's Pub in a "strip" mall to the rear of the new building two years ago with an eye toward opening a bigger, better bar.
"It's almost impossible to open a strip club now," Zurzolo said, explaining the new location near Cagney's already was properly zoned. When Cagney's closes Feb. 18 - which it must do before the new club opens because of the 1,000-foot rule - Cagney's liquor license will be transferred to Shangri-La."Most cities do more (than Fort Wayne). It's a matter of will and desire. Cincinnati doesn't have any strip clubs," said Clark, who said government doesn't have to outlaw such clubs to put them out of business. Cities can make it illegal to tip dancers, for example, or can impose curfews. Five years ago, in fact, the American Family Association wanted City Council to impose a 10 p.m. curfew on strip clubs, which, to club owners, would have been like telling churches they can't open on Sunday mornings.
Zurzolo, who also is the club's general contractor, said his business deserves a better reputation - and maybe even respect.
"The strip industry has changed dramatically," he said. "They aren't nasty places with old men taking girls home. About 40 percent of our customers are women, and we probably put on three 'bachelorette' parties a week. Clubs aren't meat factories; women come to have fun, not get picked up."
I guess so. According to my, er, extensive research, Fort Wayne used to have strip bars with names like the R Club, the Scorpion and the Rathskeller. Some were scary; some decorated like French whorehouses. There weren't a lot of women - with their clothes on, at least - but there were a lot of lonely old men. Probably as old as I am now.
That's what I hear, at least.
But as the first building in Fort Wayne designed and built as a strip club from the ground up, Shangri-La East will be unique, Zurzolo promised. At 9,000 square feet, it will have room for 300 people, with a bar on each of its five levels. One level has four rooms reserved for "couch dances" (just $10 each), and in the center are three vertical 30-foot dance poles. The décor throughout will be industrial: chain-link fences, concrete floors, exposed ceiling supports. It's so nice you'll have to pay $5 just to walk in the door.
Clark and his supporters would argue there's a wolf lurking behind such sheep's clothing, including lower property values and higher crime - especially rape and other sex crimes.
Zurzolo, on the other hand, argues he's only giving the people in this city of churches what they clearly want. There are, after all, several other strip clubs in town, including Shangri-La West on Jefferson Boulevard and Showgirls I, II and III - Zurzolo's chief competitors.
"And we pay taxes and will have up to 40 employees and 60 dancers," he said. "Do you know how many single moms work for us?"
He's got a point. At least somebody in this town is hiring.
But Clark has a point, too.
"We all know sex sells," he said. "But do you always want to appeal to the lowest common denominator?"
