Council Again Denies Permit for Nude Dance Club

The city’s crusade to boot a Tarzana juice bar featuring nude dancers moved forward Wednesday as the Los Angeles City Council for the second time in three years rejected the owner’s request for permission to operate.

But Dean Gettleson, owner of the Frisky Kitty at 18454 Oxnard St., will continue to stage nude entertainment as he challenges the city in court, according to his lawyer, Roger Jon Diamond.

Diamond, a well-know constitutional lawyer, has battled the City Council before--successfully. He convinced Superior and appellate court judges to overturn the council’s 1999 decision denying Gettleson permission to convert his business from a bikini bar to a nude juice bar.

And he vowed Wednesday to return to court, arguing that the city has failed to prove that there are other areas in the city where Gettleson could move. At issue is the application of a city ordinance that prohibits adult entertainment within 500 feet of residential areas. The Frisky Kitty violates that ordinance, both sides agreed.

“We have no objections to nude bars, only where they may be located,” Leonard Shaffer, vice president of the Tarzana Property Owners Assn., told the council.

“If we sit by and let this happen, it will devastate neighborhoods,” said Councilman Dennis Zine, whose district includes the club. “This location has not shown to be a good neighbor, and has become an eyesore in that particular part of the community.”

The courts have ruled that the city’s denial in 1999 was not supported by sufficient evidence that there were other locations in the city that were reasonably available for such an adult business.

An appeals court also said the city needed to provide more detail on areas where an adult business could locate.

On Wednesday, city Zoning Administrator Daniel Green presented the council with maps of four areas of the Valley that he said were available for such businesses.

Diamond said the council action was improper because the city did not give him those maps until Tuesday, which did not give his client enough time to examine those areas.

He said the action violates his client’s free-speech rights.

The maps include industrial and commercial areas just north and east of Van Nuys Airport. City officials released photographs of four buildings with “for rent” signs in the areas, but Diamond said his investigation found all four buildings were either too close to residential areas or were already rented. One of the buildings, Diamond said, was on city property at the airport.

“We went to the so-called representative samples and proved systematically and conclusively that none of them is available,” Diamond told the council, which rejected his request for a delay so he can survey other properties in the areas identified by the city.

The council action was welcomed by neighbors of the business.

Don Goodman, who owns a business nearby, said the location is inappropriate.

“The girls have gone out in their skimpy outfits and actually had catfights in the alleyway,” Goodman said.

Diamond said there had been no arrests at the business for more than a year, but a Los Angeles police officer testified that he has made arrests in the area for drinking in public and narcotics.