Warehouse Fails Fire Rules, Rally Canceled

A fund-raising political rally planned by the Zendik commune for tonight in a downtown San Diego warehouse has been canceled because the group has been unable to satisfy the requirements of the San Diego fire marshal.

“It’s an extreme drag for everybody concerned,” said Zoot Zendik, unofficial spokesman for the Zendik Farm Arts Cooperative. The cooperative is composed of 40 unreconstructed free thinkers-hippies-agrarians who tend goats and raise vegetables on 75 acres near Tierra del Sol in southeastern San Diego County.

Zendik said the group hopes to reschedule the event for late March, possibly at Carpenter’s Hall in Golden Hill.

Tonight’s gala, a sort of political coming-out for the commune, was to have featured rock, drum and soul bands, a comedian and a political manifesto by the commune matriarch, actress-exotic dancer-artist Arol Zendik.

“We’re not going to pack up and sneak away,” Zoot Zendik said. “There’s just too much need for something different. The Democrats are dead, and the Republicans too. We need something different on the musical and political scene.”

Al Thomas, assistant fire marshal, said the owner of the warehouse at 555 Union St., who is not a member of the Zendik commune, has not produced blueprints and other documents for the city Building Inspection Department to determine whether the structure is suitable for a public assembly.

Such a determination is the first step toward receiving a permit from the Fire Department, Thomas said. A permit would be issued only if there were sufficient exits and fire extinguishers and other safety considerations.

“Until the building inspectors reclassify it for assemblies, it’s still a warehouse and not eligible for a permit,” Thomas said.