This article shall be known as the dance hall ordinance, and
the following terms when used herein are defined as follows:
Any space, structure, building or resort open to the public,
enclosed or unenclosed, where food or beer or wine or other beverage
is served on the premises, including restaurants and cafes, and where
patrons are provided with a space for dancing or are permitted to
dance.
Any bona fide nonprofit society, association of persons or
corporation organized for civic, fraternal, social or charitable purposes,
or any purpose not a business or commercial purpose, which owns, rents
or operates a place or building for the accommodation of its members
when such place or premises or any part thereof is used for dancing
by members of the club or is rented to others for such purposes.
Any room, space or academy in which classes in dancing are
held and instruction in dancing is given for hire.
The person, firm, association, partnership or corporation
which conducts, manages, maintains or controls, either directly or
indirectly, any dance hall as defined and designated herein.
Any dance given at any home or any dance given or held by
a bona fide club, admission to which is granted to members and their
invited guests and from which the general public is excluded.
Any dance to which admission can be had by paying a fee or
by the purchase, possession or presentation of a ticket or token,
or in which a charge is made for checking wearing apparel or parcels,
or any other dance in which the public generally may gain admission
with the payment of a fee directly or indirectly or without payment
of a fee.
Any room, space or building where a public dance is held.
(Ordinance 74, sec. 1, adopted 9/22/58)
Any person, association or corporation who shall violate any
provisions of this article shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor
and shall upon conviction be fined not less than five dollars ($5.00)
nor more then five hundred dollars ($500.00), and each day’s
action shall constitute a separate offense.
(Ordinance 74, sec. 9, adopted 9/22/58; Ordinance 246 adopted 1/28/88)
In addition to the other provisions of this article, dance halls
[shall] be governed by the following regulations:
(1)
All
class A and class B dance halls shall close and not operate between
the hours of 2:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m., except on Saturday nights when
the hour of closing shall be 3:00 a.m.; provided, however, that the
chief of police may grant special permits in writing to licensees
to operate until a later hour upon special occasions. Applications
for such special permits shall be made not less then forty-eight (48)
hours prior thereto.
(2)
No
person under the age of seventeen (17) years shall be permitted to
attend or take part in the public dance after 9:00 p.m. unless such
minor is accompanied by a parent or guardian, and it shall be unlawful
for any person to falsely represent himself to be either parent or
guardian of such minor for the purpose of gaining his admittance to
said dance hall.
(3)
It
shall be unlawful for the operator of a dance hall to permit any known
prostitute, male or female procurer or vagrant to be present at any
public dance or dance hall.
(4)
No
dance hall shall have in any way connected with it any room or rooms
equipped or fitted in any way as sleeping rooms which are open to
or let to the patrons of such dance halls or to the public with or
without charge being made therefor, except bona fide hotels.
(5)
Each
dance hall shall be supplied with separate and convenient toilet facilities
for each sex.
(6)
Free
access and entrance into all dance halls shall at all times be accorded
and granted to the police officers of the city when on official duty.
(7)
No
operator or licensee of any dance hall hereunder shall permit any
person or persons to perform any indecent or immodest dance upon the
premises.
(8)
Nothing
herein shall be construed as authorizing the issuance of a license
under any circumstances for the conduct of any dance hall commonly
known as “taxi dance halls,” wherein there are kept and
provided male or female dancing partners for male or female guests
who pay by the dance for the privilege of dancing with said partners.
(9)
No
employee of any licensee or anyone employed on the premises shall
be permitted to dance with patrons of said dance hall.
(Ordinance 74, sec. 6, adopted 9/22/58)
It shall be unlawful for any person to dance at any public dance
hall except a licensed public dance hall hereunder. This, however,
shall not apply to any entertainer performing any sort of entertainment
at a public gathering.
(Ordinance 74, sec. 8, adopted 9/22/58)
It shall be unlawful to hold or conduct any public dance or
dancing school as herein defined within the limits of the city unless
the dance hall where same may be held shall first have been licensed
for such purpose. Said license shall be issued by the city secretary
when the conditions of this article have been complied with and when
said application has been approved by the chief of police and the
city council.
(Ordinance 74, sec. 2, adopted 9/22/58)
(a)
The
following classifications and license fees for each class are set
out:
(1)
Class A dance halls.
(A)
All cabarets, nightclubs and taverns as herein defined are made class
A dance halls, and the license fee shall be $25.00 per year.
(B)
The dance hall fee of $25.00 per year called for in this article
shall not be transferable or assignable and shall not be subject to
monthly proration.
(C)
The $25.00 fee shall be payable on the first day of January of each
year and shall be good for the calendar year during which it is paid.
If the ownership of said dance hall should be changed, then the new
owner must procure a new permit and pay the set $25.00 fee for the
remainder of the calendar year.
(D)
If the fee is paid at any time during a calendar year, a new fee
of $25.00 must be paid on the first day of January for the following
calendar year.
(2)
Class B and class C dance halls.
(A)
All other dance halls fall under class B, the license fee for which shall be $15.00 per year, save end except class C dance halls shall be those described in the definition of “dancing school” in section 4.14.001, the license fee for which shall be $1.00 per year.
(B)
All licenses issued hereunder shall run for the calendar year, and
in the event they are issued during the year they shall bear the proportionate
part of the annual fee as the part of the year remaining, and there
shall be no refund of any license [fee] paid hereunder for any cause
whatsoever.
(C)
Licenses issued shall be deemed personal to the licensee and shall
not be assignable; provided, however, that licenses issued hereunder
may be transferred from one location or place of business to another
after the chief of police and the city council shall have been given
(5) days’ notice and shall have approved of such change.
(Ordinance 74, sec. 3, adopted 9/22/58; Ordinance 87 adopted 12/10/60)
(a)
Any
person, firm, association, partnership or corporation desiring a license
to operate a dance hall as herein defined shall file with the chief
of police a sworn written application for such license, which application
shall state:
(1)
The location by street number of the place, space, building, room
or floor and the size thereof which is proposed to be used for such
purpose, and the name and address of the applicant;
(2)
If the applicant is an individual, that he is a bona fide resident
of the city or the county and the state, and the length of such residence
therein, that he has not been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor,
and, if so, the nature of the offense, and in this connection he shall
submit to having his fingerprints taken if the chief of police so
specifies;
(3)
If a firm, association or partnership, all of the information prescribed in subsection (a)(2) of this section as to each individual composing the firm, association or partnership;
(4)
If a corporation, that the applicant is organized and chartered under the laws of Texas, or, if a foreign corporation, that such corporation has complied with the laws of that state, and the same information with reference to the operator or person in charge of said dance hall shall be given as prescribed in subsection (a)(2) of this section; in addition thereto a list of the officers, directors and stockholders of said corporation shall be given;
(5)
Previous occupation or employment of the applicant for a period of
five (5) years next preceding the filing of his application;
(6)
In the case of applications for class C licenses, such application
shall give the names and addresses of each instructor in the school
of dancing;
(7)
Whether a hotel, rooming house or lodging house is conducted in any
part of the premises for which a license is sought, and, if so, the
number of rooms contained in such hotel, rooming house or lodging
house; provided, however, that nothing contained herein will prevent
the issuance of a license to any public dance hall having connected
with it any sleeping rooms which are not open to or let to the patrons
of such dance hall or to the public.
(b)
The
information given in such application is for the purpose of determining
whether or not the applicant is a fit and proper person to operate
a dance hall, and it shall be unlawful to misrepresent the kind and
character of dance hall to be operated or any other fact or statement
made in said application, and any misrepresentation of any applicant
for the purpose of avoiding the provisions of this article shall in
addition to other penalties prescribed by law be cause for the revocation
of the license in the mode and manner hereinafter provided.
(c)
The
license herein provided for shall state on its face to whom it is
issued, and the date it will expire, the address and location of such
dance hall, and whether the license is issued for a class A, B, or
C dance hall; it shall be signed and sealed by the city secretary
and posted by the licensee in a conspicuous place at or near the entrance
in such a place and position that it may be easily read at any time
of the day or night.
(d)
No
license to operate a class A dance hall in any section of the city
where private residences are located shall be granted, except after
notice has been given to all residents in the block where the proposed
dance hall is to be located and an opportunity has been given said
residents to protest in writing the issuance of said license, and
if any such residents shall file a protest in writing, then it shall
be grounds within the discretion of the chief of police and the city
council to refuse the issuance of said license for said location.
(e)
The
granting of any license under this article shall in no event be construed
as the granting or conferring of any right to the licensee but shall
be subject to revocation and cancellation as herein provided.
(f)
No
license shall be granted hereunder unless it shall appear upon investigation
by the chief of police and building inspector that the premises desired
to used for the purpose of conducting dance hall comply with all ordinances
of the city and laws of the state.
(Ordinance 74, sec. 4, adopted 9/22/58)
In the event the chief of police and the city council shall
refuse to grant a license to any applicant hereunder, said applicant
shall have the right of appeal within ten (10) days after such refusal,
in writing, to the city council requesting a hearing by the council
upon the application, and in the event of such appeal a hearing shall
be had before the council within thirty (30) days thereafter to determine
the correctness of the action of the chief of police and the city
council on said application, and whatever action shall be taken by
the city council on such appeal shall be final.
(Ordinance 74, sec. 5, adopted 9/22/58)
If any licensee hereunder shall violate any of the terms of
this article or other ordinances of the city or the laws of the state,
the chief of police may at any time give notice in writing to said
licensee or operator of said dance hall of a hearing to be held in
the city hall for the purpose of cancelling said license, and upon
said hearing said chief of police and the city council may cancel
said license for any of the above causes, which notice shall become
final at the end of ten (10) days from the expiration of said hearing.
Said licensee shall have the right of appeal to the city council within
said ten (10) day period from and after the expiration of said hearing,
and if such appeal is taken, then the city council shall conduct a
hearing on said cancellation and may cancel said license for any of
the causes so shown, which action shall become final.
(Ordinance 74, sec. 7, adopted 9/22/58)
