Ban on Bar’s Going Topless Is Still in Place After Hearing

Dancers at a Tarzana bar were told to keep their shirts on Friday by a city official who ruled after a stormy hearing that the Candy Cat West bar is too close to residences to permit topless entertainment.

There are no grounds to waive the city regulation requiring 500 feet between a topless bar and nearby homes, said Jon Perica, an associate city zoning administrator.

After a three-hour hearing in Van Nuys, Perica turned down a request for a zoning variance, saying “there would be an adverse impact . . . on public welfare” and there was “strong evidence” that topless entertainment would be detrimental to “property rights and enjoyment of life style” in Tarzana.

Shouting Match Earlier

Earlier, the hearing turned into a shouting match when a man who supported topless dancing waved a Bible and spoke on Adam and Eve and fig leaves in front of an incensed crowd of about 50 opponents.

Bar owner Joan Urrutia said she will take Perica’s rejection to the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals and, if necessary, to City Council.

Urrutia said that dancers who now work at the 49-stool bar at 19637 Ventura Blvd. do not attract enough customers because they keep their bikini tops on.

Urrutia showed up for the hearing with a petition of support signed by neighboring merchants. She had pledged to them that steps would be taken to keep the bar clean and to keep its patrons under control.

But Tarzana homeowners angrily condemned her plans--and the shopkeepers who had come to Urrutia’s defense.

“No pun intended, but the biggest boobs are those businesses next to her establishment that signed that petition,” said Louise Frankel, a longtime resident and leader of the Tarzana Property Owners Assn. “This would have a degrading effect on the community. It would set an ambiance we don’t want.”

Consideration of Patrons

Brad Rosenheim, an aide to Tarzana-area City Councilman Marvin Braude, agreed.

“I’d caution adjacent businessmen who signed the petition that there’s a difference between a local pub and a topless bar,” Rosenheim said. “Whether she has a security guard roaming the streets or not, her patrons may not be as considerate as she is.”

Tarzana Chamber of Commerce director Don Whittemore told Perica that the chamber opposed granting the variance. He said he had visited the bar Thursday night and was concerned about its atmosphere.

The hearing turned into a loud debate when topless supporter James H. Moore said Tarzana’s video-rental shops offer more explicit entertainment in X-rated movies than a topless bar would. He argued that the Ventura Freeway protects the homes closest to the Candy Cat West like “the Great Wall of China.”

Blamed Zealots

But Moore provoked howls of protest from the audience when he blamed the opposition on religious zealots and tried to read from a Bible.

“Religious tradition and culturing . . . in the San Fernando Valley, that’s part of the issue,” Moore said.

Members of the audience shouted for Perica to silence Moore. “Shut this guy up or have him removed, please!” one man shouted.

Moore continued, arguing that Adam and Eve sewed fig leaves together “to make aprons for their bottoms, not their tops.” He was finally persuaded to leave by Perica, who told him, “You’re probably hurting the case you’re trying to help.”

Jeffrey S. Weiss, the Candy Cat’s lawyer, told Perica that Tarzana residents were “rightfully concerned” about their neighborhood. But he repeatedly denied that a topless bar would harm the area.

Argument for Defense

“This is the type of establishment that will be good for the community,” he said, eliciting groans from homeowners. Weiss said Urrutia “has gone out of her way to upgrade her property” and, in 12 years of operating topless bars in Chatsworth and Canoga Park, “has not been a blight on the neighborhood.”

Weiss said Urrutia looked without success for an alternate location before leasing her Tarzana site in March. If a usable site that meets the city’s 500-foot setback rule were available, “she’d move in a minute,” he said.

After Friday’s hearing, Urrutia’s husband, Eric, said buses will be chartered to take backers of the topless bar to the appeal hearing when it is scheduled.

“We could have filled the street outside with supporters,” he said. “We had business executives, airline pilots and others who have been customers for years who wanted to come today.”