South Bay : Industrial Park Rejects Nude Dancing Club’s Bid

It seems nude dancing is not essential for the smooth operation of an industrial park. So ruled officials of the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency when they recently denied a permit application for a burlesque club in Wilmington.

Investors in Qudil Inc. had wanted to open the bare-all cabaret in an old union hall at the edge of the agency’s 232-acre industrial redevelopment zone in the port community. But project manager Jeff Skorneck said the permit was turned down because the club would have thwarted CRA’s plans to preserve the area exclusively for “industrial uses or uses which provide services or facilities” to people in the zone.

Attorney Roger Diamond, who represents Qudil, blasted the agency’s decision as political, saying it was prompted by community outcry against the club.

He said his clients are contemplating an appeal to the CRA board of commissioners.

“The battle is just begun,” Diamond said. “We can’t sit back while the politicians trample on the 1st Amendment. We owe it to those who fought for the Bill of Rights not to give up.”

Skorneck denied that community outcry had anything to do with the decision, saying agency staff simply thought nude dancing did not quite qualify as an industry--or as a related service.