[1]
State law references: Authority of city to license, regulate theaters, § 18-b, General City Law.
[Ord. of 3-4-1929, § 1; Ord. of 6-6-1949, § 1; Ord of 7-16-1956, § 1; Ord. of 1-6-1992, § 1; Ord. of 2-18-1999, § 1]
It shall be unlawful for any person to give any exhibition or performance for money or to maintain any place of public amusement in the city until such person shall have obtained a license therefor and shall have paid to the city the following fees:
(a) 
Circuses. For every circus performance, not less than $25 nor more than $100 per day, to be fixed by the Mayor.
(b) 
Curiosities, freaks. For conducting in any tent, building or other place temporarily used for the exhibition of natural or artificial curiosities, freaks or attractions, $5 per day.
(c) 
Theatrical performances. For any theatrical performance to which an admission fee is charged, not wholly conducted by a local society or association and not conducted upon premises licensed under Subsections (d) or (e), the sum of $10 for each performance.
(d) 
Buildings. Any person maintaining a building solely for theatrical performances or other public exhibitions shall pay to the city the sum of $100 per year.
(e) 
Museums, menageries, etc. Any person desiring to carry on any place wholly devoted to the purpose of a museum, menagerie or exhibition of natural or artificial curiosities and theatrical representations shall pay to the city the sum of $100 per year.
(f) 
Carnivals. For conducting or operating a carnival, the sum of $25 per day.
(g) 
Other amusements. For merry-go-rounds, riding galleries, shooting galleries and other amusements not otherwise provided for for which an admission is charged, such fee as the Mayor in his discretion shall deem proper.
[Ord. of 3-4-1929, § 2]
The annual licenses provided for by Section 3-48(d) and (e) shall expire on the January 1 subsequent to their granting, and said license fees shall be payable in advance on January 1 of each year or upon the date of the application therefor for the balance of the year up to the next first of January and shall not be prorated.
[Ord. of 3-4-1929, § 3]
No building or place shall be licensed for any public exhibition or performance of any character until it shall have been inspected by the Chief of Police of the city with reference to its means of exit and to its safety as a gathering place for an audience and until said Chief of Police shall have filed a written report with the City Chamberlain recommending the building or place as a safe place for a public gathering with safe and sufficient means of exit; nor until said building or place shall have been inspected by the Chief of the Fire Department of the city as to its freedom from danger from fire and as to its equipment of means for the extinguishment of fire and until said Chief of the Fire Department shall have filed with the City Chamberlain a written report recommending said building or place as a safe place for a public gathering by reasons of its freedom from danger from fire and its protection against fire.
[Ord. of 3-4-1929, § 3]
All buildings and places licensed for public exhibitions shall be at all times subject to the inspection and regulation both of the Chief of Police and of the Chief of the Fire Department with reference to their safety, their proper means of exit, their freedom from danger from fire and their protection against fire, and all licenses shall be granted only upon the understanding that they shall at once be revoked upon the filing with the City Chamberlain of the report of either the Chief of Police or the Chief of the Fire Department that the licensed building or place is, for any reason therein stated, unsafe for a public gathering.
[Ord. of 7-16-1956, § 1]
Licenses for conducting or operating a carnival shall be granted only to organizations or societies and shall not be granted for a period in excess of six consecutive days. Licenses for carnivals shall be so issued that a period of at least 14 days must elapse between the conclusion of one carnival and the commencement of another. No organization or society may obtain a license to conduct or operate more than one carnival in any thirty-day period.
[Ord. of 7-16-1956, § 1]
(a) 
Toilet facilities. Adequate chemical toilet facilities, approved by the Department of Health, must be provided by the carnival.
(b) 
House trailers. House trailers used by carnivals and its concessionaire must be equipped with a chemical toilet.
(c) 
Disposal. The contents of all chemical toilets must be disposed of in a manner approved by the Superintendent of Public Works.
(d) 
Inspection. The Department of Health shall be required to inspect all chemical toilet installations to see that they comply with the Public Health Law and Sanitary Code. The violation of any of the above provisions shall be cause for the immediate revocation of a carnival license by the department of health.