As it so often is when morality and real estate intersect, the problem is one of location. To give Games-goers a place to go in the midday sun, both the Olympic organizers and Coca-Cola have invested millions of dollars to create hospitality parks in the center of town. While all of that was being planned, one enterprising businessman leased space directly across the street from one of these parks with a plan of his own: to open the XCLUSIVE! Lingerie Studio. Ted Parabak has painted the currently empty building a fetching purple and green and put up a sign and intends to wait for the overflow from the other Games in town.
At first, a city agency dutifully approved his plans. But a highly perturbed Mayor Bill Campbell sent the application back to the city’s License Review Board. He argues that the Lingerie Studio violates city zoning, which requires a 1,000-foot buffer between such establishments and public spaces where children may be present. XCLUSIVE is only 400 feet from Centennial Park, says Campbell, who’s also concerned that a lingerie joint is not compatible with the area’s post-Olympics development.
Parabak’s lawyer Alan Begner threatens to sue if the license is rejected. Parabak’s only public comment suggests he is banking on the Games to help jump-start his studio, especially with European visitors. ““They are very familiar with adult entertainment, if you know what I mean,’’ Parabak told The Atlanta Constitution. ““I hope we can stay in business because what they have there is tame in comparison.''
That may just be local pride talking. Atlanta ranks third (behind New York and Chicago) as a national convention center, and first in its region in strip joints. Hosting more than 2,000 conventions and major meetings a year, Atlanta’s hospitality industry grosses more than $3 billion annually. Officially, the most popular local tourist attraction is Underground Atlanta, a shopping-dining-entertainment complex that draws 10 million visitors a year. But unofficially, the nearly 50 nude clubs and roughly a dozen lingerie studios have proven a hot draw for visitors. All told, the take from Atlanta’s adult-entertainment scene could top $200 million annually, according to Donald Ratajczak, an economics professor at Georgia State University.
Georgia has tried to close this industry in the past. Before Atlanta hosted the 1988 Democratic convention, the legislature banned nude dancing in places where alcohol was served. To serve that year’s conventioneers, bar owners put some clothes on their dancers. When the Georgia Supreme Court struck down the law, the pasties came off and nude clubs sprang up in the suburbs, too. This summer they may be giving out medals.
