Police Close Downtown Hayward Brothel

I just returned from a week in sunny but cold Washington, DC, and am still trying to catch up with my work and personal life. So, nothing in the past couple of days has happened in Hayward, until I go back a week to the 1/21/06 Daily Review:

(I guess this means they're not going for a conditional use permit from the City Planning Commission ;-)

This is all is actually quite funny, and is a candidate for the Strangest News of the Year for Downtown Hayward Award.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/dailyreview/localnews/ci_3424489

"HAYWARD — A downtown massage parlor raided in a Thursday prostitution sting was supposed to go before the city's Planning Commission next week but never completed the required police checks.

Owners of the Lotus Flower Health Center did not have permission to run a massage business at the Second Street Plaza, but were attempting to obtain a permit, city officials said Friday....

Police officers spent recent weeks conducting an undercover investigation of the Lotus Flower, also known as the Lotus Blossom, which was on the second floor of downtown's Second Street Plaza building at the corner of B and Second streets.

Detectives said the business was operating as a brothel but masquerading as an acupressure and acupuncture center that provided customers with massages.

"There was just never any women who went to get massages," said Laura Swan, who owns a communications business across the hall from the parlor. "There was a steady stream of men that came up all day."