Placentia Gets Temporary Restraining Order : Court Calls Halt to Work on Adult Peep Show

A businessman who wants to open an adult peep show in Placentia and has been spurned by the City Council was ordered Thursday by a court to stop all construction work, some allegedly done “in the middle of the night,” at the store’s Atwood Plaza site.

The city was granted a temporary restraining order Thursday halting all work at the site where Van Nuys businessman Raymond Pistol wants to open Placentia’s first peep show shop, which would feature individual booths for viewing X-rated movies.

On Jan. 7, the City Council had denied a request from Dynavid Ltd. Inc., which Pistol represents, to open an entertainment center. The council decided that Pistol’s plans did not comply with city codes and went against “the moral standards of the community.”

Dynavid sued the city Monday, but its bid for a temporary restraining order was rejected the next day. Thursday, the city filed a cross-complaint, saying that Dynavid did not have permission to go ahead with its construction without obtaining permits, and was granted the restraining order by Orange County Court Commissioner Jane Myers.

Work Without Permits

City Administrator Roger Kemp said workers have been caught at the Orangethorpe Avenue shop working on electrical wiring, installing a toilet and building shelves, all without any city permits and once at night.

“(The order) would preclude them from doing night work unless they were wearing miners’ caps and carrying flashlights,” said Kemp, who called the proposed business “a full-service dirty bookstore” featuring live nude entertainment, sexual gadgets and adult movies and magazines.

City Atty. John Harper said Placentia officials cited Pistol this week for violating various building codes and for operating without a business permit.

“They were open for business” and sold an adult magazine in the presence of a city official, Harper said.

‘Not Legal Use’

In addition, the business has been issued several stop-work orders in the last few weeks, Kemp said. “They have no authorization from the council. It is not a legal use. Everything that has been done has been with total disregard for the law,” Kemp said.

Neither Pistol nor his attorney, Lee Grant, were available for comment Thursday, but they have declared before that the city is infringing upon First Amendment rights.

During the Jan. 7 council meeting, which attracted residents from Placentia, Yorba Linda, Fullerton and Anaheim, Grant told city officials: “I think we’re 20 to 30 years too late to bar these materials.”

Grant pointed to the sale of adult magazines and movies in the same plaza and said denial of his client’s application was arbitrary and discriminatory.

For the Placentia residents who have signed petitions, written letters and attended city meetings to protest the proposed business, the issue has turned into a community drive. Following the council’s denial, which upheld a similar planning commission denial, council members received a couple dozen letters from residents, churches and parent-teacher organizations thanking the officials for their decision, Kemp said.

“The public can rest assured we’re doing anything that we legally can to stop them,” Kemp said.