Limits on Teen Clubs Diluted : Council Panel’s Action Fails to Mollify Owners

A Los Angeles City Council committee on Wednesday weakened slightly a proposal to regulate teen discos throughout Los Angeles, but the modified measure failed to satisfy the owners of two popular San Fernando Valley clubs, who said the regulations are still too restrictive.

“It’s a compromise,” Councilwoman Joy Picus said after the Police, Fire and Public Safety Committee voted 2 to 0 to send the full council the proposal, which would require the clubs to close at 10 p.m. on school nights and 1 a.m. on weekends. Picus had sought a midnight weekend closing time for the clubs, which now can stay open until 2 a.m.

Picus proposed the regulations in response to what she claimed were drug use, noise and other problems at Phases, a teen-age dance club in Canoga Park.

Displeased With Vote

“I don’t think it’s a compromise at all,” said Kevin Parr, manager of Phases. Doug Noecker, the owner of Hot Trax, a teen disco in Van Nuys, also said he was not pleased by the committee’s action.

The committee voted to allow 13- and 14-year-olds in clubs only if their parents sign consent forms in the presence of club management. There is no such requirement now.

However, no teen-ager would have to be accompanied by a parent once inside the club, as Picus had earlier proposed.

“I think it’s unreasonable to ask a parent to have to spend the whole evening with a teen-ager in a nightclub,” committee member Joan Milke Flores said. “Teen-agers can go to the malt shop and not have their parents there.”

Picus also agreed to drop her proposal to require club patrons 15 to 18 years old to obtain consent forms from their parents. However, the committee approved a new provision to require clubs to keep a record of teen-agers whose parents have “filed a notice that their teen-ager is not to be admitted.”

Under the measure recommended to the full council by the committee Wednesday, teen-age dance clubs would have to close at 10 p.m. on school nights and 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday nights.

Protested Panel’s Action

Parr rushed up to committee chairman Marvin Braude after the vote to protest that the committee acted without hearing from him or any of about a dozen teen-agers present at Wednesday’s City Hall hearing. He pointed out that the committee heard from Picus.

“This is the first we’ve seen of the amendments,” Parr said.

Braude responded that the committee held a public hearing several weeks ago at which Parr and a number of teen-agers testified.

Parr said he objects to the requirement for clubs to obtain parental consent forms for 13- and 14-year-old patrons. “It’s a nightmare of book work to keep track of thousands of teen-agers,” he said.