Categories
· Business (Tobacco)
· Teen Smoking/Youth
· Sex/Fertility
· Hookahs/Shisha / Water Pipes
USA, by State
· New York
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Some oppose license for lounge
Jump to full article: New York Daily News, 2009-05-05
Author: Nicholas Hirshon
Intro: WHAT WERE they smoking?
A Queens hookah lounge that promotes naughty-named tobacco blends such as "Erotic Sex" and "G Spot" in bonglike pipes has jeopardized its bid for a beer-and-wine license by being so risque, locals said.
GiGi Malek, co-owner of the trendy Hookahloopa Lounge in Forest Hills, insisted the Metropolitan Ave. hot spot - open till 2 a.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays - is safe and clean, and respects its proximity to homes.
But concerned locals - caught off guard by the innuendo-filled menu - want Community Board 6 to investigate and possibly craft a resolution urging the state Liquor Authority to deny a license.
"It's practically saying to kids, 'This is fine; this is a big joke,'" said community board member Barbara Stuchinski, also president of the Forest Hills Community and Civic Association.
J.R. Nocerino, girls softball director for the Forest Hills Little League, interpreted the provocative labels - which also include "All Night Long," "Sex in the Woods" and "XXX" - as ways to lure underage teens.
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