East L.A. Club, Called a Gang ‘Hangout,’ Ordered by Court to Restrain Activities

The owners of an East Los Angeles nightclub described by city officials as “a major hangout” for street gang members were ordered Tuesday to meet strict new security standards in response to neighbors who complained they have been terrorized by club patrons.

Faced with more than two dozen sworn statements from neighbors, one of whom said Don Quixotes East had turned her apartment complex into “hell,” Superior Court Judge Jerry K. Fields issued a temporary restraining order requiring club owners to limit the number of patrons, hire uniformed security guards and restrict sales of alcoholic beverages.

Neighborhood ‘Taken Over’

“The people who frequent this club have literally taken over the neighborhood,” said City Atty. James K. Hahn, who sought the court order in a civil suit filed against club owners Salvador and Serapia Quezada.

“Residents of the area lock themselves in their homes when it gets dark and live in fear until morning,” Hahn said. “It’s a deplorable situation, and we’re going to put a stop to it by attacking the root of the problem, which is this club and the illegal activities going on there that attract these hoodlums.”

The club’s attorney, Manuel Valenzuela, denied that the club has engaged in any illegal activity and called the court order “a vendetta” by the city aimed at closing the popular nightspot at 2811 E. Olympic Blvd.

“There are people, of course, that don’t like the Don Quixote. Those are the people that don’t like anything,” Valenzuela said.

In their lawsuit, which seeks up to $50,000 in civil penalties, city officials allege that the nightspot has violated state liquor laws by serving alcohol to minors and allowing intoxicated patrons to leave the club, drinks in hand.

Declarations by police officers claim that crowds in excess of 3,000 are “commonplace” at the club, which by law is restricted to 650. On a recent weekend in August, with traffic backed up for blocks, police said they issued 170 traffic citations, 11 drunk-driving citations, 69 vehicle impounds, 17 citations for drinking liquor off premises and cited 13 minors for drinking alcohol inside.

Nearby residents complained of being assaulted and robbed at knifepoint near their homes, of club patrons urinating and defecating on their lawns and of gang members viciously attacking other club patrons on the sidewalks outside their homes.

“The boys walk around our apartments, then go running, screaming, fighting each other,” one resident, Marha Martinez, said in a sworn statement filed with the court. “All that has become part of our private lives. Now, when I hear shotguns, I stay in bed praying for the mothers that don’t know where their sons and daughters are at that moment.”

“We urge the court to close this place . . . once and forever in the name of the law and for the sake of our families and especially our children,” said another neighbor, Jose L. Garcia.

Owner’s Viewpoint

Club owner Salvador Quezada, who has a harassment lawsuit pending against the city over past enforcement actions, said he is already complying with most of the terms of the court order.

Uniformed security guards patrol the club and only patrons with hand stamps showing they are over 21 are served liquor, he said.

“It’s a place where people can have a good time, enjoy themselves,” said Quezada, who opened the club in 1982 after working nine years as a dishwasher at the Biltmore Hotel. “It’s a real nice, clean place. I don’t know why they be on my back.”