Anaheim : Council Votes to Revoke Radio City Club’s Permit

The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to revoke the operating permit for Radio City, the only club in the city that provides a showcase for local rock groups performing original music.

“We regret we had to take this action,” Mayor Don R. Roth said after the vote, which upheld a Feb. 19 decision by the Planning Commission to revoke Radio City’s conditional-use permit. “There has been too much impact from this location on the community and on the neighbors.”

Club owner Jerry Roach, visibly angered at the action, complained afterward that the council refused to hear testimony from everyone who had attended the hearing.

“What kind of open hearing is that when they say ‘That’s enough’? They had already made up their minds,” Roach said.

Nearly two dozen people attended the appeal hearing, but only 10 were permitted to speak. After more than an hour of testimony, Roth closed the public hearing and the council voted 5 to 0 to uphold the revocation of the club’s permit.

Radio City, located at 945 S. Knott Ave. in a complex that also houses a band rehearsal studio and a Top 40 nightclub, has been closed since it was destroyed by an arson-caused fire in November.

Only two clubs remain in Orange County that provide a showcase for local and national touring club acts: Safari Sam’s in Huntington Beach and the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano. Two other concert clubs, the Golden Bear in Huntington Beach and Spatz in Huntington Harbour, closed earlier this year.

The move to revoke Radio City’s permit was prompted by a Police Department recommendation citing 87 police contacts at the club since it opened in 1981.

In addition, a petition citing excessive noise from Radio City--described in the petition as “a recording studio”--was signed by 63 residents of an apartment complex north of the club and delivered to the city in January.

Roach argued that Radio City was being unfairly singled out as the source of all problems in the complex. “You’ve got the wrong man,” Roach said.