Florida- As Oakland Park tightens its adult entertainment laws, an international strip club chain is about to call it home.

Pure Platinum, the neon-lit adult entertainment center at 3411 N. Federal Highway, will change its marquee this week to Spearmint Rhino, joining a string of 31 strip clubs found around the globe, including London, Russia and Australia.
The club’s opening comes as the city defends the constitutional validity of its current adult entertainment ordinance in federal court.

Suing the city is Ibiza Dance Club and Café, a club at 3339 N. Federal Highway that offers barely clothed waitresses and “friction dancing.” Ibiza, located just a few blocks south of the former Pure Platinum, claims that the city’s laws governing strip clubs are vague and unconstitutional.

Joining in that suit is former strip club king Michael J. Peter, who used to own Pure Platinum. Peter once ran dozens of gentlemen’s clubs nationwide, but was forced to sell his empire in 1996 after pleading guilty to mail fraud. He served two years in federal prison, and was released in 1998.

Peter, whose felony conviction was overturned in October, is working as a consultant at the recently opened Ibiza. He also wants to help promote another proposed strip club at 1421 E. Oakland Park Blvd., formerly Studio 51.

Oakland Park is now drafting stricter laws against adult entertainment, which state that new strip clubs can’t be located within 800 feet of each other and that employees and patrons must be separated by at least four feet, with strippers raised a minimum of 18 inches above the floor.

Mayor Don Migliore declined to comment on whether Spearmint Rhino’s opening would have an impact on the pending lawsuit.

“I’d prefer not to say anything about it,” Migliore said. “It’s immaterial who’s running [Pure Platinum].”

But, Jeff Levy, Spearmint Rhino’s vice president of developmental services, says the new club will prove to be a reputable business.

“We plan to have a good relationship with the city and abide by the rules and regulations presented by the adult entertainment ordinance,” he said. “Our industry complies with good community standards. We contribute to the community, we pay our taxes and we employ a lot of people.”

The opening of Spearmint Rhino in Oakland Park this month is the California-based chain’s East Coast debut. The club, owned by Ocala businessman David Carter, will join the Spearmint Rhino family under a licensing agreement.

Styling itself as the “Waldorf-Astoria” of strip clubs, Spearmint Rhino is also set to open clubs in Vienna, Austria, Prague, Czech Republic and Tokyo. Levy said Pure Platinum will be upgraded substantially to match its sister clubs around the world. Spearmint Rhino’s Web site boasts facilities offering leopard-print carpet and crystal chandeliers.