Anaheim : City Closes Video Arcade Following Complaints

Pac-Man stopped gobbling dots at the Anaheim Fun Center video arcade this week when city officials closed down the amusement center that neighbors said was a nuisance.

Ray Hruby, owner of the arcade at 884 W. Lincoln Ave., now is looking at a site less than two miles from the one closed Wednesday. If a contract is negotiated and neighbors of the new spot on Euclid Street don’t object, the beep-beeps and flashing lights of the videos will again be available for the teen-agers who had petitioned to keep the Anaheim arcade open.

“This is really a shame. We have kids coming in all the time--even as we’re trying to move (out) the machinery. It’s a stupid thing,” said Hruby, owner of another video arcade in La Habra.

The city closed the arcade following complaints from residents of the surrounding area and officials of neighboring Anaheim High School. The city’s code enforcement office had received nine letters in the past month that complained of loitering, drunken fights and drug abuse, among other nuisances.

The arcade, which Hruby bought in December, posed problems on and off since it open in 1980, city and school officials said. Police, however, said they have had no problems there.

In closing the arcade, officials cited a city code that prohibits amusement arcades within 600 feet of a school without the school’s permission.