SAFARI SAM’S GOES SILENT; COMPLAINTS, PERMIT DELAY CITED

Orange County’s most adventuresome and eclectic concert club, Safari Sam’s in Huntington Beach, has halted live music after police warned the club’s operators on Sunday that they would be cited or arrested if they continued to stage live entertainment.

City officials cited neighbors’ complaints of noise and vandalism in the vicinity of Safari Sam’s, which opened in 1984 and has since been Orange County’s only outlet for hundreds of local bands as well as major touring club acts such as the Minutemen, the Meat Puppets, 10,000 Maniacs, the Jesus & Mary Chain, Peter Case and Rank And File.

“I understand that they voluntarily agreed to shut down their live entertainment, although whether that was under the threat of jail or citation, I don’t know,” said vice investigator Hank Adams on Monday.

The end of live music, theater and poetry at Safari Sam’s stems from a 10-month effort to renew the club’s entertainment license, which was denied renewal by the city in January. The club’s owners, however, were allowed to continue presenting live entertainment during the appeal process, Adams said.

Safari Sam’s attorney Gene Dorney said that club owner Sam Lanni, at the request of the city, last week submitted a new application for an entertainment permit. That application was denied on Friday, and Lanni was told that live entertainment would no longer be permitted.

“I don’t know why (the police) came in on Sunday,” Dorney said.

Adams also confirmed club owner Sam Lanni’s contention that he had an oral agreement with the city that the Police Department would permit live entertainment while Lanni attempted to get the Department of Alcohol and Beverage Control to lift restrictions it had placed on the club’s liquor license.

“That’s exactly right,” Adams said. “But he hasn’t had an entertainment permit for 10 months. The Police Department acted in good faith for 10 months, but now it’s time for him to come in line with everybody else who does business in the city. There’s nothing underhanded going on. We’re not going to be operating with verbal agreements any more.”

Oscar Taylor, owner of two buildings near Safari Sam’s, told The Times that he complained about the club’s patrons at last week’s City Council meeting called in the wake of the Huntington Beach riot on Aug. 31.

“I can’t rent my buildings because of the element that the club attracts,” Taylor, 65, said. “I’ve never been inside Safari Sam’s, and I’d be afraid to go down there at night. But it’s hurting my ability to make a living.”

Vice investigator Adams said Lanni might be granted a temporary permit to continue live entertainment while pursing the appeal of the application denial.

“That’s more optimistic than he sounded when I talked to him,” attorney Dorney said. “As far as we’re concerned, we have no live entertainment until further notice. I just want to get a public hearing and get in front of the City Council to see what they don’t like. I also want to hear from people like Oscar Taylor as well as getting positive response from the club’s supporters.”

Dorney said no public hearing has been set.

Several other Orange County clubs within the last year have closed or discontinued live original music, including the Golden Bear, Spatz, Radio City and Garfield’s Nite Spot. The Coach House in San Juan Capistrano is now the only club in the county booking original music full time.