Party in Parking Lot : Patrons of Teen Club Fume Over Age Crackdown

Shortly after 10 p.m. Wednesday night, the manager of a teen-age nightclub in Canoga Park climbed up on a wall with a megaphone.

“You’re not going to get in tonight unless you’re over 18,” Kevin Parr told a crowd of more than 100 teen-agers in the parking lot of Phases nightclub on Topanga Canyon Boulevard. “So it would really help us out if everyone would cooperate. . . . The last thing we need is more police.”

Parr’s announcement is the lastest twist in a long-running controversy surrounding the popular dance and social club, which caters to youths from the ages of 14 to 21.

Target of Complaints

For years, the club has been the target of complaints from concerned parents, who have described it as everything from a center for drug use to a haven for runaways. Supporters, in turn, say the club has been victimized by a rumor campaign and, more recently, has been unfairly criticized by City Councilwoman Joy Picus, who is up for reelection in the 3rd District next Tuesday.

Picus, whose district includes Canoga Park, on Wednesday proposed legislation that would restrict the operations of teen clubs throughout the city.

Her action followed a Tuesday night police raid on the club, which was cited for admitting youths under 18 without a permit. Police also warned that the manager would be arrested the next time they found anyone under 18 inside the club.

Rather than risk arrest, on Wednesday Parr turned under-18 patrons away from the 6,000-square-foot club.

For Picus, and for a local group called Parents Concerned About Teen Discos, the action was at least a temporary victory.

But for Parr and the crowd that gathered in the lot, it was seen as a bitter defeat.

“This whole thing has been totally blown out of proportion,” said 16-year-old Kevin Keck of Panorama City, who arrived at the club wearing a yellow dress and black wig modeled after English rock star Boy George. “Everybody here thinks it’s really stupid. This really makes me mad.”

“Get serious,” responded 15-year-old Gary Weiss of Encino when asked if the club were a source of trouble. “Kids need a place to dress up and go to. . . . What are we going to do now, dance in the street?”

Weiss and Keck said they had been going to the club to dance and play video games on a regular basis for years. Although both have been to other teen clubs in Los Angeles, they said they preferred Phases because it is close to home.

Parr, who led an adult visitor on a tour of the nearly empty club Wednesday night, said the club has been in operation for five years, attracting an average of 400 patrons on weekend nights and smaller groups during the week. Patrons pay a $5 admission on weekdays and $6 on weekends.

The club prohibits consumption of alcohol on the property, which is the case with all teen clubs, and serves only soft drinks and juices for $1 to $1.25.

Until recently, the club was open until 5 a.m. on weekends, but Parr said it now is open until 2 a.m. Wednesday through Sunday nights.

Although Parr and a partner are in the process of buying the club, Phases is now owned by Chris Cox and Scott Harvey, the proprietors of a West Hollywood club called the Odyssey whose permit was recently revoked in response to neighborhood complaints.

Parr, in fact, was inside the Odyssey when it was partly destroyed by a March 29 fire, which investigators believe was arson.

Contrasted With Other Club

But Parr insists that the Canoga Park club is not the same as its West Hollywood counterpart, whose downfall was hastened by regular complaints of vandalism, drugs, sex, fighting, noise, litter, prostitution, and parking and other activities on neighborhood lawns.

“This isn’t the Odyssey and it never was,” he said. “Business here has picked up since the Odyssey closed, but there are a lot of Odyssey people that I won’t let in the door.”

Parr conceded, however, that until Wednesday he had let patrons under 18 enter the club, despite the fact that he has never applied for the required city permit. According to assistant City Atty. Mary House, the issuance of such a permit would have forced the club to close at midnight.

Those restrictions may be tightened soon, if the City Council passes Picus’ legislation. Among other things, the law would require teen clubs to close at 10 p.m. on week nights and midnight on weekends, make parents sign consent forms in the presence of owners before under-18 youths could be admitted and make club owners responsible for reporting trouble to police.

For now, however, the club and its detractors appear to have reached a standoff. Parr, who describes the proposed rules as “ridiculous,” said he has applied for a teen permit. Betty Beaird, the leader of the parents’ group, said she continues to worry that the club is “out of control.”

And, in the parking lot, the former patrons will no doubt continue to seethe.

“I mean, this is really weird,” said Julie Schweit, 16, of Northridge. “I think it will cause problems. I think it’s not over yet.”