New Laws Declare High Noon for Low Life in Westlake Village

City leaders in Westlake Village are determined to have a clean town in every sense of the word.

So Thursday they began enforcing new municipal laws designed to keep both vandals and voyeurs outside the city limits.

It became illegal to carry small, “unsealed” spray-paint cans in Westlake Village. It also became illegal for waitresses to wear revealing uniforms that have plunging necklines.

The new ordinances were enacted Wednesday night by the City Council on a 4-0 vote. They were included in a package of city “police regulations” that also make it a misdemeanor, punishable by a $500 fine or a six-month jail term, to do such things as deface official city notices or sit in streets or on sidewalks.

Graffiti, Indecent Exposure

Officials said the spray-paint ordinance is designed to prevent children from painting graffiti on walls. They said the waitress regulation is aimed at controlling indecent exposure.

Not that defacement or degradation is rampant in the 5 1/2-square-mile city.

Waitresses at the town’s five restaurants had their blouses buttoned to their necks Thursday. And the only thing remotely resembling graffiti was on the front of city hall, where someone had spray-painted a single black line across the word “council” on a sign leading to City Council chambers.

From his office behind the sign, City Manager James Emmons characterized the new ordinances as “simply preventive.”

“This more clearly defines the will of the community,” he said.

The spray-paint law doesn’t mention either children or graffiti. It states that “no person” shall carry small aerosol paint cans on public or private property without the written permission of the property owner unless the can is sealed.

Drawing the Line

The indecent exposure law makes it illegal for waitresses or female lounge performers to display “any portion of either breast below a straight line” drawn beween the nipples.

“We had to draw the line somewhere,” City Atty. Michael Jenkins said, explaining that the City Council wants to keep topless bars out of town. Westlake Village is not the first town to enact ordinances for tougher standards than set by state law, he said.

But the new law’s wording drew guffaws Thursday from those who feel that wealthy, orderly Westlake Village would be the last place to find a topless bar. Existing city laws and residential deed restrictions already prohibit such things as television antennas, open garage doors and outdoor clotheslines.

‘So Typical Westlake’

“To waste even retired people’s money writing laws like that is humorous,” said Bob Brady, owner of the New Orleans West restaurant. “That’s so typical Westlake. This area is a notorious new-money area. They get this arrogance here.”

“They’ve got to be kidding,” said Diana Durham, a cocktail waitress in the 19th Hole lounge at the Westlake Golf Course. She wore an orange T-shirt as she served sodas and beers to a collection of well-dressed golfers.

“They don’t have a neckline problem here,” said Westlake Inn bartender Pat Martire, pointing to waitresses wearing white shirts and bow ties.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials said there were no cases of spray-paint vandalism or topless exposure among the 238 crimes reported in Westlake Village during 1985.

“The crime rate is so low that if one kid paints his name on the wall, everybody says, ‘Oh, my God,’ ” Sgt. Walter Sharpnack said.