HOOKA PALACE
Public Pressure Ends Pipe Dream

By Rick Rousos
The Ledger Published Friday, June 17, 2005

LAKELAND -- There will be no belly dancing, beer, wine or flavored tobacco puffed through water pipes at a planned downtown night spot.

Plans for the hooka Palace went up in smoke Thursday.

Goodbye, controversial cafe.

Hello, all-you-can-eat salad, pasta and soup.

Accompanied by a belly-dancing teacher, Soloman Wassef was scheduled to present plans for his hooka Palace at Monday's City Commission meeting.

But he changed his mind Thursday, saying all the hoopla about the hooka Palace had created too much controversy. Much of the opposition came from downtown merchants, who objected to the belly dancing and water pipes.

"I want my neighbors to be friends with me," Wassef said.

The hooka Palace was to have been a cafe featuring flavored tobaccos smoked from hooka pipes, beer, wine and other beverages, along with belly dancing.

Wassef's plans to open the cafe at 5 p.m. drew criticism from some downtown merchants, who were concerned that it would have left an empty spot during the day in a high-traffic area.

Thursday, Wassef said people will like his plans for a restaurant, which he hopes to open later this year in the spot where the hooka Palace was proposed.

Wassef said he may try to open the hooka Palace in a year or so -- but not downtown.

At a June 3 meeting, Mayor Buddy Fletcher and Commissioner Glenn Higgins objected to Wassef's hooka plans. Fletcher said he opposed the lounge because it would have promoted cancer-causing tobacco. Higgins said the spot could have sent an invitation to entrepreneurs of X-rated businesses that downtown Lakeland is ripe for business.

City commissioners were scheduled to vote Monday on whether to allow Wassef to operate his exotic tobacco emporium at 119 S. Kentucky Ave. Fletcher and Higgins were the only commissioners who had spoken out against the hooka Palace. So it appeared to have a good chance for approval.

The commissioners were going to be offered a sneak preview Monday of the belly dancing that would have been featured at the hooka Palace. The performer: Sandi Silverman, who for 20 years has taught belly dancing at the city-owned Kelly Recreation Complex.

"Belly-dancing is not what people think," Silverman said.

Silverman described belly dancing as more of an art form than provocative exhibition. She said her classes provide great exercise and are filled with female "doctors, nurses and just about everything you can think of."

She said she and some of her students who had planned to perform at the hooka Palace would have been appropriately dressed.

Professional belly dancers traditionally wear elaborate, beaded costumes, imported from Egypt and Turkey. They usually wear a beaded bra and belt set with a long skirt and a veil. Only the abdomen area is exposed.

Silverman e-mailed Fletcher an invitation to her class and offered to perform at City Hall.

She said that during Wassef's presentation Monday, she had planned to respectfully ask the commissioners whether they would like to see a belly dance.

"It won't take me five minutes to go and change," she said earlier this week. "But I don't want to force myself on them. If they want to see it, fine. If not, that's fine too."

Thursday, after learning that Wassef had abandoned the hooka Palace idea, she said she was discouraged because of the lost opportunity to show people that belly dancing is wholesome.

"I'm extremely disappointed at the narrow-minded view of the business owners in downtown Lakeland," she said.

Commissioners said they've spoken to several businesspeople who opposed the city giving its blessing to the hooka Palace.

After the June 3 meeting, several people e-mailed city commissioners in support of the hooka Palace. Some extolled the beauty of belly dancing in out-of-town Middle Eastern restaurants.

"I am a belly dancer. I am also a Christian," wrote Kristina Post.

Another e-mail criticized Higgins for questioning whether belly dancing would require an adult entertainment license.

"This question even surpasses cultural ignorance and borders on cultural insensitivity," wrote Sami Jarrah.

"Does Commissioner Higgins also object to ballet for its provocative clothing?"