Catwalk Nightclub Attempting To Get Liquor License Back

Owners of the Catwalk nightclub in Pioneer Square will go before the state Liquor Control Board tomorrow to try to get the dance club's liquor license reinstated.

The Liquor Board temporarily pulled the liquor license earlier this month after undercover investigators said they saw instances of lewd conduct at the club - the most recent Pioneer Square nightspot to face scrutiny by investigators.

During the May 4 investigation, investigators said:

-- A man on a stage masturbated, or pretended to, and exposed himself.

-- Three men and a woman exposed themselves.

-- A woman was dragged "crying and protesting" to a room referred to by customers as "the spanking room," into which only certain clients were allowed access. Entry to undercover officers was barred, the report says.

"We tried to work with them. The problems continued. We conducted an undercover investigation. This is the result," said Gary Gilbert, chief of the Liquor Board's enforcement division in Olympia.

Police patrols of the area have been stepped up in the months since Celebrity's Italian Kitchen, at 315 Second Ave. S., repeatedly the scene of violence and hundreds of 911 calls, was declared a nuisance and closed. The Catwalk is at 172 S. Washington St.

Catwalk owners Ali Mostashari and Arman Badri, will meet with the Liquor Board in an administrative hearing tomorrow. For now, they said, cover charge-paying customers have remained loyal. But

"they're not going to be there month after month" without liquor being served, said Mostashari. The owners say they're losing thousands of dollars in beer sales on Saturdays alone, the more popular of the two nights they're open.

They blame much of the problem on a personality conflict with Liquor Board agent Mike Murphy, who, they said, suggested they transform the club into a sports bar. Murphy did not return phone calls for comment.

Right now, the Catwalk owners are aiming for a funky New York dance-club feel. On Saturday nights, disc jockeys spin a loud, raucous kind of music called industrial, along with a gloomier sound called gothic music. When agents investigated, the club was hosting a fashion show of rubber garments, Badri said.

Neither owner saw the activities described by the Liquor Board. They also deny any knowledge of flogging or spanking at the club.