MAILBAG - Aug. 17, 2007

Time running out for Boom Boom Room

We are truly at the 11th hour of our 1 ½ year crusade to save the historic Boom Boom Room and Coast Inn in Laguna Beach.

The property’s owner, Steven Udvar-Hazy and the operators of the Boom Boom Room and the Coast Inn were apparently unable to reach an agreement to keep the bar, restaurant and hotel open past this coming Labor Day Weekend. So it appears a change will occur in less than three weeks’ time.

We have heard there are several interested parties in negotiations with the property owner to either buy or lease the three parcels he owns on Coast Highway and Mountain in Laguna Beach but the clock is ticking.

Because of the uncertainty of the immediate future of the Boom, Save the Boom today is writing this open letter to all gay and lesbian leaders in our community who have the ability to help save this gay landmark. We hope one or more of these leaders will come forward to help preserve more than 100 years of gay history in Laguna Beach.

Regardless of the outcome, Save the Boom will continue in its campaign to find a gay buyer or someone who will pledge to keep the Boom as it has been for the last 60 years. We will not rest until our goal is realized.

Save the Boom began its campaign last year and gathered 6,000 signatures last summer in only three months. All the signatures were collected from residents and visitors alike in Laguna Beach to preserve this gay icon.

We have sought buyers throughout the United States and the world and are hopeful that soon our dream will be realized. The property was recently put up for sale or lease, and we are hopeful someone will come in and turn this property into the finest gay destination resort in the world.

We will continue our quest and are extremely optimistic that we will be successful.

We just reordered our bright yellow Save the Boom T-shirts for our volunteers, and are gearing up with a plan and budget to continue our efforts for as long as it takes to save our landmark bar.

The Gay Community will not be evicted form Laguna Beach. We will use our collective strength and seek out our friends to help save the Boom forever.

FRED KARGER, ROBERT F. GENTRY, BILL ROSENDAHL

EDITOR’S NOTE: Fred Karger is the founder of Save the Boom. Former Laguna Mayor Robert F. Gentry and Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl are co-chairmen of Save the Boom.

Basketball equipment noisy

Being blessed to have lived in our fantastic city for many years, I quickly learned it may breed contempt in some of those who do not reside here.

Due to the majority of employment in the city being service based “” at resorts, restaurants and retail establishments “” many of these employees may not have the means to live here.

For example, there is the employee who parks his large trash truck in the middle of PCH in front of the Inn At Laguna Beach and religiously slams the heavy metal waste containers into the street as hard as possible at six in the morning seven days a week.

Illegally modified motorcycle exhausts metaphorically passing gas all over the city as the riders return to their city of residence would be another example, albeit not from local employees.

There has been an ever-worsening annoyance that has been negatively affecting numerous residents, along with a few businesses and hotel guests that the city has been aware of for almost a year.

The apparently highly challenging correction of this annoyance requires a ladder, a wrench and about two minutes time.

Specifically, the backboard of the northernmost basketball hoop at Main Beach has become loose through use and emits a loud and piercing ‘clanging’ sound that reverberates throughout the neighborhood and into the homes above at any time of day or night when the court is in use.

To personally hear how widespread the noise is, simply sit outside at Starbucks or hike up to Lower Cliff Drive, which is out of sight of the court, yet the noise is still audible.

Anyone familiar with the concept of “Chinese water torture” where water is slowly dripped on to a person’s forehead, slowly driving them insane, will immediately understand.

Meanwhile, sometime in March the loose basketball hoop became defaced with graffiti. Interestingly, the well-worn graffiti remains, begging the question of how long any other Main Beach landmarks would remain in unsightly disrepair.

Regardless of the perpetuation of this nuisance, the facts are clear. An ever-loosening eighty-pound steel backboard is attached to a metal pole by metal fasteners, subjected to continually corroding ocean salt and the jolting force of thrown basketballs.

A city representative has repeatedly been made fully aware of this issue since 2006. Unquestionably this is a potentially fatal recipe for any child unfortunate enough to be nearby when it ultimately releases to the concrete below.

VON WILLIAMSON

Laguna Beach