The New York City Cabaret Law was a dancing ban originally enacted in 1926, during Prohibition, and repealed in 2017. It referred to the prohibition of dancing in all New York City spaces open to the public selling food and/or drink unless they had obtained a cabaret license. It prohibited "musical entertainment, singing, dancing or other form of amusement" without a license. Critics argued that the license was expensive and difficult to obtain and that enforcement was arbitrary and weaponized against marginalized groups, but proponents insisted that the law minimized noise complaints. According to the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection,
A Cabaret License is required for any business that sells food and / or beverages to the public and allows patron dancing in a room, place, or space.
History
The New York City Cabaret Law was passed in 1926, during the Harlem Renaissance. An attorney and professor challenging the cabaret law wrote that the law originally targeted jazz clubs in Harlem and the social mixing of races, but a historian of the period rejects the view and said there is "little evidence" for that to be the case. In proposing the law, the Committee on Local Laws argued that "there has been altogether too much running 'wild' in some of these night clubs and, in the judgement of your Committee, the 'wild' stranger and the foolish native should have the check-rein applied a little bit." In referring to "running wild," the 1926 Committee may have been alluding to the popular 1920s song "Runnin' Wild", which popularized the Charleston dance. From 1940 to 1967, the New York Police Department issued regulations requiring musicians and other employees in cabarets to obtain a New York City Cabaret Card, and musicians such as Chet Baker, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, and Billie Holiday had their right to perform suspended. In 1971, the Cabaret Law was modified to exempt musical performance "by not more than three persons playing piano, organ, accordion or guitar or any stringed instrument," which disproportionately affected jazz since drums, reeds, and horns were not allowed, as was stated in the Chiasson I case and the Chevigny book. The so-called three-musician rule was not found in the original 1926 text of the bill. Throughout its history, the law was selectively enforced with its most notable enforcer, former mayor Rudy Giuliani, resurrecting the dormant rule as part of his implementation of broken windows policing to fine and shut down perceived nuisance bars in the late 1990s.
Cabaret licensing
All applicants for a cabaret license had to be fingerprinted; to provide extensive financial records; to meet specific zoning, surveillance, physical security, fire, building, electrical, health, and record keeping requirements; and to pay the fees associated with each compliance. In 2016, the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs claimed there were then 118 cabaret licenses in a city of 25,100 licensed food service establishments.
Criticism and challenges
The law was heavily criticized both by the general public and from within city government. The limits on types of instruments were ruled unconstitutional in Warren Chiasson v. New York City Department of Consumer Affairs, 132 Misc.2d 640, and the three-musician limit was found to be unconstitutional in a later decision in the same case in Warren Chiasson v. New York City Department of Consumer Affairs, 138 Misc.2d 394. Although the code was change to reflect the ruling as to types of instrument, the text to reflect the elimination of the three-musician limit was not corrected in the text of the Administrative Code. A broader challenge to the Cabaret Law and New York City's Zoning Resolution under the New York State Constitution was rejected in John Festa v. New York City Department of Consumer Affair, 12 Misc. 3d 466, but the court urged legislative review of the law and concluded, "Surely, the Big Apple is big enough to find a wayto let people dance." In 2015, Brooklyn attorney and bar owner Andrew Muchmore filed a still-ongoing case in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New Yorkagainst the law, claiming it violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the US Constitution. The Muchmore case challenged the Cabaret Law but not New York City's Zoning Resolution.
Repeal
In 2017, Dance Liberation Network was formed, co-founded by Frankie Decaiza Hutchinson of Discwoman. They began the 'Let NYC Dance' movement to campaign for the repeal of the law. In June, New York City CouncilmemberRafael Espinal introduced a bill for the full repeal of the regulation. It was passed 44-1 by the City Council on October 31, 2017. However, a venue can still be fined or closed by the city, as the law still requires the venue to be located in a zone that allows dancing.
