CITY DENIES PERMIT FOR SAFARI SAM’S

The Huntington Beach City Council voted 5 to 1 Tuesday to deny a live entertainment permit to operators of Safari Sam’s nightclub despite a protest from the club’s attorney that in doing so the council was sidestepping First Amendment issues.

The city made its decision based on the club’s lack of a conditional use permit and restrictions against live entertainment placed on the club’s liquor license by the California Department of Alcohol and Beverage Control.

The club’s attorney, Gene E. Dorney, said that the grounds on which the denial was made were unconstitutional and that he will file a lawsuit to challenge the denial “as soon as I can get all the paper work together.”

“They just bought themselves a lawsuit,” Dorney said immediately after the vote, which upheld the city administrator’s earlier denial of club owner Sam Lanni’s application for a new live entertainment permit.

The 102-seat nightclub, which has been Orange County’s most eclectic and adventuresome contemporary music showcase, has been without live entertainment since Sept. 7.

Lanni was granted a live entertainment permit in January, 1985, and has been trying to get a new permit since that one expired earlier this year. The ABC restrictions are under appeal, Dorney said.

Although 27 people had signed up to speak about Safari Sam’s--two indicating opposition to the permit, the remainder either for it or stating no position--the council heard no public testimony.

The only speaker, other than city staff, was Dorney, who was asked to address only the two issues on which the city was basing its decision: the lack of the conditional use permit and the ABC restrictions.

Dorney testified that Lanni did not have a conditional use permit when the city approved the original live entertainment permit. Lanni has not subsequently applied for the conditional use permit, and Dorney believes that city ordinances do not require one as a prerequisite to the entertainment permit.

Dorney began his testimony by saying: “I want to commend the city attorney’s office for an inspired effort to avoid dealing with the constitutional issues.”

Dorney said language in the city’s downtown plan, which states that live entertainment “may be permitted . . . subject to approval of a conditional use permit,” is vague.

“When you are talking about First Amendment freedom, you don’t read anything into language. It has to be strictly construed,” Dorney said. The U.S. Supreme Court has struck down as “over-broad” several similar ordinances that hinged on the word “may,” which the court says grants too much discretion for restricting First Amendment freedoms of speech and expression.

The Safari Sam’s vote was taken at a council meeting that had begun at 7 p.m. Monday. The council did not decide the Safari Sam’s issue until after midnight because of lengthy testimony on another matter.

Huntington Beach landowner Oscar Taylor, who has blamed Safari Sam’s patrons for graffiti and vandalism to a building he owns next to the club, was visibly angered at not being allowed to speak after waiting more than five hours for the council to address the issue.

Earlier in the evening, Taylor said that while he hoped the council would deny the permit, he would support relocating Safari Sam’s. “Maybe they could get an old ranch house out in the country somewhere that the kids could fix up,” Taylor said.

After Dorney had finished, Councilman Jack Kelly began to speak in favor of allowing live entertainment to continue at Safari Sam’s, but he was interrupted by Mayor Robert P. Mandic, who insisted that the council vote only on the club’s lack of a conditional use permit and the ABC restrictions.

Councilwoman Ruth Bailey cast the sole vote against the permit denial and Kelly abstained.

Dorney said he was not surprised by the result. “You can’t expect the City Council to be experts on deciding constitutional issues,” he said.

Before the meeting, more than 100 musicians and other supporters turned out for a silent vigil in front of the council chambers.

Club owner Lanni said after the meeting that his first priority will be to request a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction to allow the club to resume concerts, theatrical productions and poetry readings while his battle with the city continues in court.

Lanni and his partner, Gil Fuhrer, said they have been financially strapped since live entertainment was halted, although proceeds from a benefit concert on Sunday brought in “enough to keep us going for another 10 days to two weeks,” Lanni said.

In the past, many events have been booked at Safari Sam’s, even though the club owners knew they would lose money.

“If we were in this for the money,” Lanni said, “we would have a lot of money.”