Gardena : Bar to Appeal for License
The attorney for a Gardena-area cocktail lounge said he will appeal the county Board of Supervisors’ denial of the First King Cabaret’s bid to renew its topless bar license. Attorney Ralph Saltsman said the bar was unfairly linked to prostitution and drug arrests made near the bar at 14401 Western Ave., in an unincorported area.
Mas Fukai, a spokesman for Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, said there have been 69 arrests for drugs and prostitution in the area this year, including 33 on Sept. 19. Fukai, who is also a Gardena City Council member, said the denial is an attempt by the supervisors to “clean up” that stretch of Western Avenue.
Saltsman, however, said supervisors have no proof that the bar is linked to crime in the area. In a similar action, Fukai said the Barbary Coast, at 14318 Western, was cited two weeks ago for having topless entertainment without a license. A spokesman for the Barbary Coast said that since the citation the bar no longer has topless entertainment.
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