Businessmen, Youths Oppose Teen-Club Bill, Call It Too Restrictive

A bill to regulate teen-age dance clubs is so restrictive it could shut down the nightspots and curtail dancing by young people at such amusement parks as Six Flags Magic Mountain and Disneyland, a coalition of club owners and youths opposed to the measure said Monday.

At a Capitol press conference, the California Teen Club Owners Assn. and the Canoga Park-based Lobby for Teen Rights expressed the first organized opposition to the measure, introduced by Assemblywoman Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles). The groups were formed to fight the Waters bill, and the press conference featured a half-dozen teen-agers sporting “Let Us Dance” T-shirts.

Under the bill, youths 13 to 16 would be barred from the clubs unless accompanied by a parent, and the nightspots would be required to send home anyone under 18 by midnight on Fridays and Saturdays and by 10 p.m. on weeknights.

‘Impossible to Operate’

“The hours are so limited and restrictive that it would be impossible to operate dance clubs for teen-agers,” said Kevin Parr, general manager of the Phases nightclub in Canoga Park and an organizer of the Teen Rights Lobby.

Magic Mountain officials, too, are opposed to the Waters bill. Sherrie Bang, the Valencia amusement park’s public relations manager, said in a telephone interview that the bill unnecessarily lumps together amusement parks with teen clubs.

“We can control our dance area,” Bang said, adding the park is building a new dance pavilion for teen-agers.

At Disneyland, spokesman Bob Roth said the Anaheim amusement park is concerned that dancing at Disneyland would come under provisions of the Waters bill. On June 24 Disneyland plans to open a combination dance hall and video theater called Videopolis to accommodate 3,000 people.

Drug, Alcohol Problems Cited

However, Waters aide Stan Diorio said it was not the assemblywoman’s intent to include amusement parks. “We’ll exclude them if (the language of the bill) does,” he said.

Waters introduced her measure because, she said, drug and alcohol problems at some clubs have gotten out of control. The problems have been highlighted by a Van Nuys group called Parents Concerned About Teenage Discos.

Waters’ measure passed the Assembly Governmental Operations Committee on a 12-3 vote in April and is scheduled to be heard in the Ways and Means Committee this week.

Assemblyman Richard Floyd (D-Hawthorne), one of the three lawmakers who voted against the measure, said at the news conference, “It seems that the legislators of the state haven’t a damn thing to do but pick on young people.”

The kids in my neighborhood want a place where they can go.”