Cabaret License Law Challenged In NYC
A Brooklyn bar owner is challenging New York's "cabaret law," which prevents dancing in bars unless the owner has a special license.

A dancing license? Yes. It's that absurd.

Adam Janos writes in the WSJ:

If a customer at Muchmore's in Brooklyn so much as busts a move, owner Andrew Muchmore could be busted.

New York City prohibits dancing in a venue unless it has a cabaret license, and Muchmore's--like lots of bars and restaurants across the five boroughs--doesn't have one.

Now, Mr. Muchmore, who is also a lawyer, is challenging the city's nearly 90-year-old cabaret law in federal court on the grounds that it violates freedom of expression and due process guaranteed by the First and 14th Amendments, respectively.

A band is onstage nearly every night at the North Williamsburg bar, which caters to a mostly young, hipster crowd.

But the fear of a fine has Mr. Muchmore steering clear of booking acts that might encourage his customers to sway.

"The only practical effect of the cabaret law is to prohibit dancing" in the majority of the city's eating and drinking establishments, the 33-year-old Mr. Muchmore wrote in a lawsuit he filed last week in Brooklyn's U.S. District Court.

In a statement, the city Law Department said it would review Mr. Muchmore's claims when it receives the lawsuit.

The city Department of Consumer Affairs enforces the cabaret law and is "currently reviewing rules, laws and regulations, many of which are in need of reform, including the cabaret law," a department spokeswoman said.

The law, though, has supporters. They maintain the law is meant to ensure safety conditions at venues before dancing is allowed.

Oh, bullshit.

If you have a wet floor and people are dancing and slip, your ass will be sued. That's what protects customers. Not some piece of paper handed over in the wake of legalized extortion by the city.

Oh, and check out the history:

According to historian Michael A. Lerner, the law was "really a response to interracial mixing."

During Prohibition, "the police didn't care so much about drinking. What they cared about was white women dancing with black men," said Mr. Lerner, who wrote "Dry Manhattan: Prohibition in New York City."

Attorney Paul Chevigny challenged the cabaret law twice, once successfully.

In 1988, a state supreme court ruled that venues should be allowed to host live music without licensing restrictions on the grounds that music is protected as free expression.

The question should be: Are you somehow keeping people who live near the place from sleeping and the "quiet enjoyment" of their homes?

I use this standard in conjunction with a loud bar near me. They are jerks who play music with the entire front of the bar open -- so I can hear it in my pillow. This is wrong.

However...

My ultimate position: I don't care you have an orgy and light yourselves on fire. If you aren't disturbing my sleep, it's really none of my business what you're doing.

via @sentientist