06/07/09 By Pierce Delahunt
Grand View Topless Coffee Shop, a café in Maine served by topless staff (male and female), was set ablaze last week. Investigators cannot release their evidence yet, but have publicly stated the fire was intentional.
The coffee shop, in Vassalboro, has been subject to criticism since its opening in February. The night before the fire, owner Donald Crabtree had discussed adding music and dance, and extending the 6 p.m. closing time to 1 a.m. Early next morning Crabtree, together with family and friends—two of them just four months old—awoke in the adjoining former motel to find that the coffee shop had been destroyed.
The shop, uninsured, is being renovated personally by Crabtree. For now, the staff has agreed to work solely for tips—and donations—in a tent outside. They have been wearing sweatshirts, at least on colder days.
The town also passed new zoning laws just five days after the fire. The laws require Crabtree to build the shop as it was before in order to be exempt from zoning laws via grandfather status.
Email this article to a friend
|