Bar in legal tussle over barber-themed name and decor

To quote from a news report out of Nebraska:

A legal setback and potentially “ruinous” state fines have forced a trio of Omaha siblings to at least temporarily rename the family’s “Barber Shop Blackstone,” a speakeasy bar they christened in honor of their longtime hair stylist dad.

Here’s the long and short of it: A state board that oversees the professional barber trade demanded a change, arguing that state law allows only licensed barbers to use the title and display the familiar red, white and blue barber pole.

Mike DiGiacomo and his brother and sister filed a lawsuit in February, alleging that the Nebraska Barber Shop Act violates their First Amendment rights by restricting “non-misleading” commercial speech. They said their marketing made clear that the barber-themed bar served cocktails, not buzz cuts and fades.

But after a federal judge’s April 20 decision to deny the family’s request for a preliminary injunction that could have prevented the state board from pursuing civil or criminal action pending a final resolution, the siblings acquiesced, sort of. 

For the time being, the bar near 40th and Farnam Streets will call itself the “Censored Shop.” And the barber shop pole marking the mostly hidden speakeasy off of an alley in the popular Blackstone District will be “blacked out.”