Placentia : Man Seeking to Open Peep Show Sues City

A businessman who wants to open an X-rated peep show shop in Placentia made good Monday on his threat to sue the city, which had denied his request.

Dynavid Ltd. Inc. filed suit against the city in Orange County Superior Court. The request for a peep show, which features individual booths for viewing adult movies, was denied first by the Planning Commission and then by the City Council.

Following the council denial Jan. 7, Lee Grant, an attorney for Dynavid, said the city was discriminating against his client and using “moral grounds” to deny the request. That night, about 175 residents from Placentia and neighboring cities filled the chamber to oppose the proposed business at the Atwood Plaza on Orangethorpe Avenue. Most of the residents, in their emotional pleas to the council, listed moral reasons for denying the applicant’s request.

Echoing others on the council, Mayor George Ziegler agreed and added a provision to the denial specifying that the business was inappropriate because it “promotes activities not in keeping with the moral standards of the community.”

Grant argued that his client, Raymond Pistol, amended his plans to mitigate the concerns of the city. For example, Pistol, who owns Brand X Video in Van Nuys, changed the plans to include booths on the ground floor that would be accessible to the handicapped when the city criticized his proposal for a lack of handicapped accessibility.

The city’s denial, Grant said, showed that the city arbitrarily denied a license and ignored First Amendment rights.

While they were considering Dynavid’s request--which brought an onslaught of letters and petitions to the city--Placentia officials established what they called a strict ordinance regulating adult entertainment establishments.

In neighboring Yorba Linda, officials, concerned that the same type of business would seek to open in their city, also are working on such an ordinance.