The New Diego’s in Solana Beach : Night Spot Is Hot and So Are Neighbors

It was scarcely past 9 o’clock on Saturday night, but the line outside Club Diego’s, the newest hot spot on the North County social circuit, was already 15 deep.

Nearby, attendants squeezed cars--Rolls-Royces, BMWs, Mercedes-Benzes--into an already jam-packed lot, while surrounding streets buzzed with would-be patrons attempting the frustrating hunt for parking on their own.

Inside the mammoth, pink stucco club, carefully coiffed visitors in trendy garb swarmed the dance floor, twisting to the roar of music pumped from giant state-of-the-art speakers. Some bellied up to one of the club’s three bars, while others snaked their way back and forth through the suffocating crowd, looking dazed by the din and the bright splashes of neon that bathed the smoky scene.

Despite its rousing debut and obvious popularity among the socially chic, the month-old Club Diego’s has become the object of a sizzling feud between its owners and leaders of this newly incorporated city.

Since the club and adjoining Mexican restaurant opened on Old Highway 101 here, neighboring residents and owners of surrounding businesses have showered City Hall with complaints, griping that the hoards of partygoers lured to town by the ritzy disco are spoiling the suburban tranquility.

The most critical problem is parking. Most nights, club patrons quickly fill the 97-space Diego’s lot, spilling onto streets once used only by residents and monopolizing private lots reserved for surrounding businesses. The resulting parking pinch scares off customers of neighboring restaurants, their owners say.

Noise is another concern. Although only faint strains of music emanate from the thick-walled club--sister of the legendary Pacific Beach disco--some patrons cause quite a racket while returning to their cars late at night, residents living directly behind the club complain.

Meanwhile, both county code enforcement officials and the local fire marshal say the crowd repeatedly exceeds the club’s maximum allowable capacity. A county permit limits occupancy in both the club and the restaurant to 300 patrons; on one recent Saturday, code enforcement investigators counted well over 600 in the disco alone.

“Our guys couldn’t even get into the restaurant,” said county code enforcement officer Ed Colby. “Heck, it takes 10 minutes to move a foot in that place.”

The Solana Beach City Council appears to have little patience with Diego’s and the problems that have accompanied its opening.

On one front, council members are attempting to keep club owners from putting in an additional parking lot alongside the railroad tracks across Old Highway 101 from the disco. The lot, which will have 231 spaces, has been approved by the county and the state Coastal Commission, but the city has refused to issue a building permit for the project, which it opposes because of its location and the safety hazard to patrons who would have to cross the busy roadway.

In addition, Mayor Margaret Schlesinger said the council will move to revoke the club’s operational permit and close it if the crowd continues to exceed allowable capacity.

“Unfortunately, the county made a bad decision allowing something that enormous, that massive, to go into an area surrounded with residents, many of them elderly,” Schlesinger said. “Now we’re stuck with it. But that doesn’t mean we are going to sit back and do nothing if these violations continue.”

Owners of the $3-million club did not return telephone calls from The Times. But John Cross, who handles public relations for Diego’s, said the disco has been a positive force in Solana Beach and is being unfairly criticized by a City Council that is insensitive to the entertainment needs of its constituency.

“This business about parking is the last leg they’ve got to stand on, and they’re using it to attack us because they’ve opposed us from the very beginning,” Cross said. “The truth is that Diego’s is the largest source of entertainment that’s ever come to North County and is already the hottest club in all of the San Diego region.”

Moreover, Cross stressed that Diego’s is pumping needed sales tax dollars into the fledgling city’s coffers and maintained that the club is benefiting other Solana Beach businesses as well.

“Our guests are patronizing service stations, restaurants and convenience stores in the area,” he said. “People are painting an all-negative picture which isn’t accurate at all.”

As for the parking troubles, crowd capacity problems and other alleged permit violations, Cross said he “isn’t familiar with all the details” and thus could not comment on the issues, which he called “boring” and “unnewsworthy.”

According to Mayor Schlesinger, the council has been deluged with letters and verbal pleas from residents and business owners who view Diego’s as a nuisance. Particularly concerned are owners of the Turf Motel, which sits in the shadow of the disco immediately to the north.

A motel employee said that drop-in business has fallen off significantly since Diego’s opened. In addition, he said that guests who check in during the afternoon often demand a refund and leave later that night, complaining about the noise from traffic and patrons passing their rooms.

Tenants in the Mercado del Sol shopping complex just south of the club are up in arms as well. Charlie Song, owner of the Samurai restaurant, said business has dipped because disco patrons take parking spaces reserved for his guests. Song said that, although he often tows cars to clear the lot, diners with reservations frequently call to cancel because they cannot find a parking spot.

On Saturday night, parking prospects appeared particularly bleak at the club, a giant edifice that dwarfs every other structure on the block. A long line of cars stretched out of the Diego’s lot and up the highway as patrons waited for valet parking service. Down the road, it was stop-and-go all the way south to Via de la Valle--the city’s border with Del Mar--as motorists hunted for a curbside spot.

Meanwhile, owners of the neighboring Sea Gull Coffee Shop and other nearby businesses were cashing in on the nighttime parking crunch. Charging as much as $4 a spot, these entrepreneurs ushered club patrons into their parking lots--reportedly earning up to $300 on a typical weekend night.

“We figure there’s a parking shortage and they’d park here anyway, so why not make some income off of it?” said Scott Masters, who owns Sunset Auto Detail. Masters said that, before he began baby sitting his 30-space lot every Friday and Saturday night, Diego’s patrons would lift the rope across the front of his property and park there illegally.

“On opening night somebody boxed me in and I couldn’t get my car out until the next day,” Masters said. “People are desperate for parking places. Last Friday my lot was full and somebody offered me 10 bucks for a spot. I even get tipped!”

Although Masters and other businesses see the club’s popularity as a boon, the feeling is quite different at the Solana Beach Fire Department. Deputy Chief Bill Roebuck said that fire marshals have inspected Diego’s about 10 times since its opening and have found it in violation of the department’s occupancy limit on almost every occasion.

“This is not a game and we’re getting a little tired of it,” Roebuck said. “I am starting to wonder how seriously the owners take this matter.”

Roebuck said that, if his inspectors find the club in violation of the crowd limit one more time, he will recommend that the disco’s entertainment license be pulled.

“We haven’t had compliance problems with other clubs in the area, so there’s no reason Diego’s can’t meet the regulation,” Roebuck said. “I figure it’s just money. With 600 people at $5 a head you make a lot more money than you do with 300 people.”

Club owners have said that construction of the controversial parking lot will enable them to meet the crowd limitations and solve the parking crunch as well. The lot would allow the disco to increase its maximum capacity and provide 231 new parking spaces.

But council members are adamant about blocking the lot and say they hope Diego’s will abandon plans for the project and come up with another solution.