If Hustler store founders meet their price, Scott and Terry Carter will sell them Neon's Cigar Bar and Tavern in Over-the-Rhine, Scott Carter said Saturday.

Jimmy Flynt looks out the window of his adult store on Elm Street, downtown. (Michael E. Keating photo) | ZOOM |

        “I will look at any serious offer,” he explained. “We can't discriminate.”

        However, it was not clear how far negotiations have gone for the East 12th Street property between Walnut and Main streets.

        Mr. Carter said Jimmy Flynt, executive with the Hustler organization that operates an adult store on Elm Street in downtown Cincinnati and a Hustler superstore in Monroe, has “been down here looking around,” but they haven't talked price.

        Mr. Flynt said in a Saturday interview that he has discussed price and “the possibility of buying Neon's” with the brothers, who are co-owners.

        Neither man would say how much money might be involved.

        If Mr. Flynt and his brother, Larry, the founder of Hustler magazine, buy Neon's, they expect to be hassled by city officials and opposed by anti-porn critics.

        “It's Cincinnati. It's the breed of the dog,” Jimmy Flynt said.

        Neon's is not the only suitable property in depressed Over-the- Rhine, Mr. Flynt said. “There are several places up there for sale, and we've talked to a couple of people.”

        He would not elaborate.

        Mr. Flynt said that he has opened a topless club in New Orleans and that similar clubs will follow shortly in San Francisco and San Diego, Calif. “Cincinnati is just one of several cities I'm looking at ... to develop our club concept” during 2002.

        Others include Seattle, Portland, Ore., and Nashville, Tenn.

        Mr. Flynt said a Cincinnati club would not be topless. “It would be dressed. We wouldn't show as much in Cincinnati as we would in other cities. Cincinnati is always a legal situation.”

        No one should be surprised that Mr. Flynt has been in Neon's, Scott Carter cautioned. His brother and Mr. Flynt have been friends for decades, and “Jimmy comes down here as a patron.”

        It would become a neighborhood issue if the Flynts bought Neon's, Scott Carter conceded. “Some people will realize that it's just strictly business, but there will be others who says it's terrible.”

        He said the brothers' decision to put Neon's on the market came during their annual business meeting before the April riots; after 15 years of building the business, Terry is tired of the bar trade and wants to devote himself to fly-fishing.

        Neon's remains open, Mr. Carter said, but after-riot fear has reduced its trade and — worse — its selling price.

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