Hustler Hollywood may already be open on 41st Street just west of Sheridan Road.
That means you can add sexually oriented retail merchandize to the list of Tulsa vices – including tribal casinos, alcohol in almost every retail store and marijuana farms.
Several years ago, former Mayor (now District Court Judge) Bill LaFortune used his bully pulpit to keep an adult bookstore from locating at 51st Street and Harvard Avenue. Current Mayor G.T. Bynum, LaFortune’s cousin, says he won’t promote the opening of Hustler Hollywood – but he is powerless to stop it. The store is within shouting distance of Bishop Kelley High School.
In one radio interview, Bynum wanted to make sure the public knew that he bore no responsibility for this sex store opening.
Technically, an adult-oriented or sexually oriented business could not locate there because of the school. But that legal definition is based on the percentage of inventory. If more than 10 percent is sexually oriented, the store can’t open. Of course, the owners are smart enough to keep that percentage low when they first open but if it rises later – and we know it will – there apparently is no recourse for the city to stop it.
Parents and administrators from Bishop Kelley have battled this store but Hustler Hollywood has more resources and would surely win a legal battle.
This is another slide down the moral abyss for Tulsa. It wasn’t too long ago that a store like this would be raided and the operators charged with offending public decency.
Now, it’s just added to the increased gambling, drinking and pot smoking in Tulsa.