Apartment A Go Go was a Santa Ana, California

beer bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (un ...

where female dancers appeared fully nude in the late 1960s. The business also presented

amateur porn Amateur pornography is a category of pornography that features models, actors or non-professionals performing without pay, or actors for whom this material is not their only paid modeling work. Reality pornography is made porn that seeks to em ...

movies that were untitled and without sound. The establishment became involved in litigation in April 1969. At that time a

California Superior Court Superior courts in California are the state trial courts with general jurisdiction to hear and decide any civil or criminal action which is not specially designated to be heard in some other court or before a governmental agency. As mandated by ...

judge refused to dissolve a

restraining order A restraining order or protective order, is an order used by a court to protect a person in a situation involving alleged domestic violence, child abuse, assault, harassment, stalking, or sexual assault. Restraining and personal protection o ...

requested by the owner of the business, Harry Maselli. Judge Claude M. Owens referred to the dancing exhibitions as ''dirt for money's sake''. However he refused to prohibit nude movies which were previously banned in a

temporary restraining order An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in par ...

obtained on April 4, 1969. The court ruled that his decision was based on the

Red Light Abatement Act The Red Light Abatement Act is a vice law in California that was intended to curtail or eliminate prostitution. The Act was passed by the California legislature and signed by Governor Hiram Johnson in 1913, and became effective on 3 Novembe ...

which applied to houses of prostitution. The restraining order specifically prohibited nude dancing at the Apartment A Go Go.''Judge Rejects Bid by Bottomless Bar to Dissolve Order'', Los Angeles Times, April 12, 1969, pg. B1. Attorney Berrien E. Moore contended that the

Orange County, California Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, ...

district attorney applied the red light abatement statute in an illegal manner pertaining to the issue. He believed that what was then referred to as ''bottomless'' dancing was protected by the

First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

, which guaranteed

free speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogn ...

. Orange County District Attorney Cecil Hicks succeeded in obtaining

preliminary injunction An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in par ...

s against four other Orange County bars which also allowed all nude dancing. He conceded that without new local legislation,

topless dancing A striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner. The person who performs a striptease is commonly known as a "stripper" or exotic ...

was permitted by the freedom of speech amendment. In July 1969

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

Municipal Court City court or municipal court is a court of law with jurisdiction limited to a city or other municipality. It typically addresses "violations of city ordinances and may also have jurisdiction over minor criminal cases...and over certain civil cases ...

Judge Earl Warren Jr. issued a thirteen-page opinion pertaining to the issue. He acquitted two bottomless dancers of

indecent exposure Indecent exposure is the deliberate public exposure by a person of a portion of their body in a manner contrary to local standards of appropriate behavior. Laws and social attitudes regarding indecent exposure vary significantly in different ...

charges on the grounds that the entertainment contained ''no movements which would be out of place in any setting where

modern dancing Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance which included dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th ...

is engaged in by the public.''{{cite AV media , last=Shepherd , first=Jean , date=May 19, 2010 , url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eIECihasJ4 , title=Earl Warren's Son, Also a Judge, Makes National News in 1969 , publisher=danieljbmitchell , via=

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

, access-date=September 28, 2021 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630110916/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eIECihasJ4 , archive-date=June 30, 2016 , url-status=live

References

Apartment A Go Go Apartment A Go Go was a Santa Ana, California beer bar where female dancers appeared fully nude in the late 1960s. The business also presented amateur porn movies that were untitled and without sound. The establishment became involved in litigat ...

Apartment A Go Go Go Legal history of California