WAIT IN ‘QUIET ROOM’ FOR KIDS : PARENTS FIND PEACE AT ROCK CONCERT

The Loud Room.

That’s where Jennifer Chavez and 14,000 other teen-agers spent Friday evening at the Long Beach Arena. They all cheered the cliched prancing and hopelessly nondescript high-decibel attack of bands with the descriptive names Ratt and Poison.

The Quiet Room.

That’s where Chavez’s mom and a dozen other parents spent Friday night at the arena. They didn’t have to hear Ratt or Poison. They passed the three hours needlepointing, reading and watching the Dodgers lose another game on TV.

“This is wonderful,” Maxine Chavez, 37, said, sitting in the Quiet Room. “We live in San Juan Capistrano, so the kids (she also has an 18-year-old son) usually have a long way to go to concerts.

“I’ve driven them to shows (all around Southern California) and usually just waited in the parking lot. Sometimes the atmosphere is so rowdy . . . drugs and alcohol going on . . . that I was fearful. In fact, I wasn’t even going to drive them this time, except my daughter told me about this room.”

Facilities Management, which operates the municipally owned Long Beach Arena, introduced the Quiet Room concept last fall at a Monkees concert at the New Orleans Superdome. The idea was to provide a sanctuary for parents who drive their kids to concerts.

The room was such a hit in New Orleans that Quiet Rooms were set up at other arenas operated by Facilities, including Long Beach. The spacious room--only about 100 yards from the Arena lobby--is complete with a dozen sofas, a TV set (though the antenna wasn’t working Friday, so the Dodgers game looked like it was being played in a snowstorm) and complimentary coffee.

“It’s strictly a public service,” said Mike McSweeney, director of marketing for the arena. “When there was a rock show here, we’d always have reports of parents sitting outside in their cars or trying to find some coffee shop in the neighborhood that was open. We thought it made sense to just invite them in.

“I think a lot more people would probably take advantage of the room if they knew about it. We don’t have any advertising budget for the room, so it’s been pretty much a word-of-mouth thing.”

Tom and Celia Jordan, who had driven from Burbank with their teen-age son and one of his friends, also reported feeling uneasy in the parking lot at earlier rock shows. Sitting in the Quiet Room, Mrs. Jordan said, “The difference (tonight) is like going from a tough neighborhood to Disneyland.”

Most of the parents in the room expressed some reservations about rock’s influence on young people. “I am very glad to see more and more rock stars begin to speak out on issues like drugs because I think they are very important role models,” said Diane Hooley, 44.

But the parents stressed they are equally--or even more--concerned about the influence of other factors, including movies, television and advertising. Parents themselves, they agreed, play the greatest part in shaping a young person’s moral outlook.

Mrs. Hooley, who spent her time in the Quiet Room doing some writing, said she was surprised how nicely the room was furnished and that she plans to bring some cards next time in case some parents want to join in a game.

Her only complaint was the drive from her home in Simi Valley. For an hour an a half each way, the kids would be playing more of those Ratt tapes and, in the car, there’s no Quiet Room.