Revision of Massage Law Postponed

The Santa Monica City Council has delayed revising a law regulating massage parlors after professional massagers and instructors complained that it would put them in the same category as operations that front for prostitution.

The draft ordinance was sent back to City Atty. Robert M. Myers for consideration at the council’s first meeting in January. It would require those who want to work in the city as massage technicians to be licensed by the police.

Amendments to the city law would change both the license requirements for businesses and the health and safety regulations. They would also allow massage technicians to operate in private homes as long as they are not employed by a massage business.

In his report to the council, Myers said that because of their potential to serve as fronts for prostitution, massage businesses were described in the law as “adult entertainment uses” limited to sections of the city zoned for that activity.

Justifiable Measures

To prevent prostitution in massage parlors, Myers said, measures such as restricting hours of operation and requiring technicians to be fully clothed are justified.

Councilman James P. Conn, who raised the issue of revising city laws regulating massage practices more than two years ago, said his intent was to discourage massage operators involved in prostitution.

“What we want to do is make a distinction between those who are not legitimate operators and those who are,” Conn said.

But massage technicians testifying before the council said the proposed ordinance made trained professionals suffer for the actions of massage businesses whose purpose is prostitution.

“I strongly resent being put into a category with the same people who are selling sex,” Fred Campbell, a former attorney who is now a masseur living in Santa Monica, told the council.

Campbell also said that the proposal to prevent massage technicians from working off the premises of a massage business would limit income. A 45-day waiting period required by the city to review new applicants for licenses would require businesses to wait too long to fill a vacancy, he said

Current city law requires that massage technicians have at least 100 hours of instruction at a state-approved massage school and pass a competency test administered by the county.

‘Stringent’ Training

Garnet Dupuis, an assistant instructor at the Massage School of Santa Monica, 1151 25th St., one of four such schools in the city that are licensed by the state, called for “stringent” academic training in massage and a competency test to help eliminate prostitution.

Representatives of the Rolfing Center of Santa Monica, 1452 26th St., objected that their profession had been mistaken by city police as a massage operation. The proposed ordinance defines rolfing as a “healing art” and exempts certified rolfers from regulations covering massage.

Stuart Barasch, an attorney for the rolfing center, said the center was pleased that the proposed ordinance would eliminate rolfing from its definition of massage and “remove harassment against rolfers.”

Rolfers, whose practitioners are certified only in the Rolfing Institute of Boulder, Colo., claim the technique is a form of physical therapy rather than massage.