Rally To Be Held Over Planned Wantagh Night Club

Wantagh residents are planning a protest Sunday morning over concerns that a North Bellmore strip club owner could be bringing a similar type business to their neighborhood.

The protest rally is slated for 10:30 a.m. at 3500 Sunrise Hwy., Wantagh, the property that Billy Dean, owner of a strip club in North Bellmore called , purchased last year to open a new entertainment complex. Dean Patch last November that he was not planning to have any adult entertainment at his new Wantagh business and it would instead be operated as a dinner club with “unique comedy acts.” However, many Wantagh residents are concerned that Dean will still be operating 3500 Sunrise Hwy. as an adult entertainment business, including rally organizer Kevin Milano.

“Hopefully we can turn this around as a community because I love living in Wantagh and I’d hate to see my kids subjected to that,” said Milano during a Wantagh Board of Education town hall meeting Thursday evening where he announced Sunday’s rally to the over 200 people in attendance.

Milano said Nassau County Legislators Dennis Dunne, Sr., R-Levittown and Dave Denenberg, D-Merrick, are scheduled to attend Sunday’s rally.

Dean went before the Hempstead Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) nearly a year ago seeking a special exception for public assembly and amusement on the property, which used to be home to Frank’s Steaks, including cabaret, live music, dancing and entertainment. The Hempstead BZA granted Dean's request on May 17 with eight conditions, including that there be no nude entertainment and that no employees be topless or bottomless.

The Billy Dean’s Showtime Café website advertises the planned Wantagh business on its main page saying “this full service restaurant will feature dinner and show theatrical production packages with various types of variety entertainment.”

Hempstead Town Councilwoman Angie Cullin, R-Freeport, whose district includes Wantagh, said last November that she has the town’s building department to closely monitor what Dean plans for the business to  “ensure that there is not any type of activities occurring which would be objectionable to families and local residents.”