A Happy Ending for Houston’s Robo-Brothel Resistance, for the Most Part

All that foreplay over the sex doll brothel planned inside the 2 story building pictured above on Richmond Ave just east of Chimney Rock ended up going nowhere Wednesday when city council blocked its opening by amending an ordinance that regulates adult businesses within city limits. Following the council’s unanimous vote, having sex with what the amendment calls “anthropomorphic devices” inside stores that offer them is now illegal in Houston. However, selling the dolls for take-home use remains no problem — provided that the retailer is more than 1,500 ft. from all nearby schools, churches, daycare centers, areas with 75% residential density, and public parks

City-owned Anderson Park is just about catty-corner to the brothel’s planned location at 5615 Richmond — meaning the property is now off-limits to any kind of R-rated establishment. (Existing PG tenants include Kaan Cafe, Omni Salsa Dance Studio, and a handful of clothing shops.)

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If KinkySDolls — the Canadian company that hoped to do business there — ends up scrapping its rent-before-you-buy model and opening up a takeout-only shop somewhere else, it’s still got a few new ground-rules to follow. According to the amendments, interior lighting must be “of sufficient intensity” to illuminate everywhere customers have access and managers must maintain “an unobstructed view of every area” inside the store.

Photos of 5615 Richmond Ave: LoopNet

5615 Richmond

12 Comment

  • Thank goodness the city rapidly solved that problem! Great priority setting. Mark down the date and maybe Ed Emmet can set another low voter turnout bond election. It’s sexy after all.

  • Do I think its weird to have sex with a robot and pay for it? Yeah.
    Do I think it should be illegal? Not really. I guess I have a hard time seeing the rationale on this. Is there a possibility having these options could reduce real sex trafficking in the city of Houston? Maybe? I dont know. But other than sanitary and public health reasons, I have a hard time seeing what exactly is wrong with someone getting their rocks off.

  • The City Council group action led to the climax of this episode which seems to satisfy many but didn’t satisfy KinkySDolls. It may be a reach (around) to say: “Better luck tomorrow.”
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    I guess we can thank the location of Anderson Park for being the mechanical leverage of using the “not within 1,500 feet of city parks” language.

  • Houston is SIN CITY. Thank GAWD !!!Loved one Councilmans comment: ” Houston isn’t sin city”. It IS SIN CITY you d-bag. While Houston has hundreds of strips clubs and massage parlors !!! That LIAR is fooling NO ONE !!! Loved how City Council passed that ordinance update in less than a week. In the mean time the DO NOTHING’s @ City Hall led by the Head INCOMPETENT Sly Turner drags their sorry asses on everything else. Only do they actually do something when it benefits their financial overlords. Houston has one of the WORSE government bureaucracy in the world. They’re DEPLORABLE. Led by that the Camera WHORE Ellen Cohen. Wish she’d go back to CANADA !!!

  • The Yelp reviews would have been interesting.

  • Houston isn’t “sin city”? LOL!!! The “ick” factor at work again ladies and gents. Does this ignorant city government of Puritans think they are administering a provincial village set in the 1800’s?

  • I just feel bad for the employees who would have to wipe-down the dolls between use… Yuck.

  • Could somebody out there that’s an expert with ArcGIS take the tax roll and layers from the City’s engineering department and figure out where within the City of Houston a robot brothel would be permitted under the amended ordinance? Please make a map and also include a tabulated list of all retail, office, and office/warehouse properties.
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    I feel that the City of Houston deserves to be trolled relentlessly on this and similar ordinances — such as those governing the placement of liquor stores — to regulate commerce that is purportedly sinful.
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    It would be especially interesting to see if there exists a disparate impact on non-white communities. But of course, for disparate impacts to exist, the regulated commerce would have to be demonstrated to be impactful…

  • I would never be a customer of the place, but I’m kind of disappointed that Space City isn’t getting a robot whore house! And I agree, I wonder about who would get the job of scrubbing out the rubber hoo hoos.

  • So city hall can solve a robo-brothel controversy in a matter of weeks?
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    How long did it take city hall to solve the massive backlog of untested rape kits?
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    These people scare me.

  • Troy’s Art” Who would clean out eh robot sex dolls between uses?

    Prolly the same people that mopped the floors in the back of the bookstores in the 80s and 90s ???