Landlord evicting Mukilteo topless bar

MUKILTEO — The party's over for the Monkey Trap.

For a few months, the tavern just outside Mukilteo has been one of only two topless bars in the state.

Most clubs that feature topless dancers serve only nonalcoholic drinks, to get around state Liquor Control Board restrictions on nudity and up-close table dances. The Monkey Trap offered topless dancers as well as alcohol despite those restrictions.

But tavern owner Shashin "Sam" Patel is about $40,000 behind on the rent, and is being evicted by his Mercer Island landlord.

Patel has promised to turn over his keys tomorrow morning, said attorney Evan Loeffler, who represents landlord Gabriel Poll. A new tenant — whose lease forbids topless entertainment — is to take over the tavern immediately, Loeffler said.

Poll, owner of the Mukilteo Speedway building that houses the Monkey Trap and a children's-clothing store, said Patel did not notify her before he added once-a-week topless dancers to his payroll

"Am I upset about this? Yes," she said, declining to further discuss the matter.

Instead, she referenced her eviction case, filed April 30 in Snohomish County Superior Court. On May 14, a court commissioner ruled in Poll's favor, ordering the county Sheriff's Office to evict Patel within 10 days.

Loeffler and the Sheriff's Office agreed to allow Patel to stay in business for an additional week in exchange for his promise to not file for bankruptcy. If Patel had filed, it would have taken at least three weeks to get a court hearing on the matter, making it impossible for Poll to bring in a new tenant immediately.

"A steel curtain goes up around everything," Loeffler said. "Nobody can touch it."

Patel said he didn't publicize his Thursday-night special because he didn't want to antagonize the inevitable critics. "You don't want to make people mad," he said.

But he got a big boost when a talk-radio show got wind of it a few weeks ago, he said. "We had phone calls from 9 (a.m.). The majority of the people gave me a high-five and said, 'That's great — I've been wanting to do this for a long time.' "

State laws that prevent full nudity in liquor-serving establishments are hurting the local economy, he said, because people drive to Canada or Oregon for a chance to drink at strip bars.

"The two things mix — booze and nudity," Patel said. "You can't go wrong. It's a win-win game for everybody."

Nudity, however, doesn't fit the tavern's immediate surroundings, according to some. The Children's Warehouse used-clothing store is a floor below the Monkey Trap. Clothing-shop owner Diane Cross says the tavern was more of a sports bar, under different management, when she opened her store in 1996.

Patel took over the tavern in 1997.

"It thoroughly disgusts me," Cross said of the topless dancing. "It goes against every moral we are trying to teach our children — I really can't believe he's stooped that low."

Snohomish County Sheriff Rick Bart said Patel has a history "of pushing the envelope" at the Monkey Trap, which is about a mile from Mukilteo's upscale Harbour Pointe neighborhood. "We've just had so many complaints about the Monkey Trap — overserving, drunk drivers. It's been a source of problems for us."

Most strip clubs switched to a soft-drink-and-coffee beverage menu after 1976, when the Liquor Control Board banned full nudity and table dances at establishments that serve alcohol.

At this point, the only other topless bar in the state is Lipstix in Tacoma.

Diane Brooks can be reached at 206-464-2567 or dbrooks@seattletimes.com.