GARDEN GROVE, Calif.–Garden Grove police could begin enforcing a new law banning nudity and arcade games in the city’s lingerie cafes as early as this weekend.
The Garden Grove City Council approved the ordinance last week that also calls on police to more strictly enforce the state law banning smoking in the cafes, police Lt. Jeff Nightengale said.
Police have alerted the cafe owners of the new ordinance, and the next step is training officers to enforce it, Nightengale said.
“The earliest I could see any type of enforcement being done would be this upcoming weekend or the following week,” Nightengale said.
There are 37 lingerie cafes in Garden Grove, staffed by scantily clad women, Nightengale said. The last time police checked, 23 were out of compliance with the new law, he added.
The cafes are like bikini bars, but sometimes even more suggestive, Nightengale said.
“We’re talking about sheer negligees where nothing is left to the imagination,” Nightengale said.
The prohibition on arcade games in the cafes stems from the tendency of the game makers to embed illegal gambling features in them, Nightengale said.
Authorities recently conducted a crackdown on illegal gambling devices that led to charges against 19 people. Seven of the defendants have pleaded guilty to possessing gambling machines.
