Everett bikini baristas can wear bikinis again after City Council vote

EVERETT — Bikini baristas in Everett will soon get to clock in wearing their namesake uniforms thanks to a unanimous City Council vote Wednesday to change a city dress code requiring them to wear at least shorts and a tank top.

Baristas will instead be required to follow the city’s existing lewd conduct rules, which allow “fast service” food and beverage workers to wear minimal clothing while prohibiting them from exposing or fondling themselves in public places, including at coffee stands.

The vote ended a nearly 15-year battle over bikini coffee stands in Everett, which police and city officials said attracted bad behavior, including baristas allegedly exchanging cash for sexual behavior.

The vote also followed an October 2022 ruling by a U.S. District Court judge that found the dress code ordinance unconstitutional. A group of seven bikini baristas and a coffee stand-chain owner had sued the city for $3 million five years prior, alleging the dress code violated their rights to free expression. The city agreed to settle the lawsuit for $500,000 in April 2023.

The fight over Everett’s bikini coffee stands erupted in 2009, when undercover Everett police officers reported baristas stripping naked, fondling each other or exposing themselves for extra cash. Five employees at an Everett espresso stand were later charged with prostitution.

The Everett City Council unanimously passed an ordinance in August 2017 requiring coffee stand owners to ensure their employees had their “minimum body areas” covered while working, including breasts, torso and the top three inches of legs below their buttocks. Everett officials later released an illustration of “sample outfits” allowed under the new ordinance, which showed two people wearing tank tops and shorts.

The seven baristas and coffee stand-chain owner sued the city about one month later, alleging the dress code violated their First Amendment rights.