L.A. Panel Denies Key Permit for Music Club

A Los Angeles City Council committee dealt a severe blow Tuesday to a landmark San Fernando Valley music club, voting unanimously to deny it a permit to have a dance floor and serve alcohol.

The council Planning and Environment Committee voted 3 to 0 to deny the permit to the 10-year-old Country Club after hearing testimony from Councilwoman Joy Picus.

The Reseda club “has proved that it doesn’t know how to be a good neighbor,” Picus, who represents the area, told the committee Tuesday. The full City Council is scheduled to make the final decision on the permit Nov. 15.

Scott Z. Adler, the club’s attorney, called the committee vote “a horribly irresponsible decision.” Adler said he expects the full council to affirm the committee’s action.

Residents Fed Up

Adler told the committee that the club could be forced to close without the permit. But he later said in an interview that the club’s owners intend to stay in business, perhaps by attracting a younger clientele that does not consume alcohol or by charging higher admission fees.

Picus told the committee that residents who live near the club are fed up with “all kinds of totally unacceptable behavior” by nightclub patrons. She said patrons have been seen using drugs, urinating and drinking outside the club in the 18400 block of Sherman Way.

“Nobody should have to live under these conditions,” Picus said. Of the relationship between the city and the club’s owners, she said: “We’re like a parent, and they’re like a child who is always saying, ‘Give me one more chance, I will be good . . .’ We have given them chance after chance after chance.”

Disturbances at the club led to permit-revocation hearings in 1983 and 1984, but city officials allowed it to stay open. A city zoning administrator recommended against renewal of the club’s permit in February. The club appealed to the City Council. It has continued to operate as usual during the appeal process.

Adler told the committee that the club could cut its operation from 7 days a week to 4 and from a 2 a.m. closing time to midnight or 1 a.m.

But Picus presented the committee with a Los Angeles police report showing 65 “criminal incidents” at the club in the past 2 years, mostly involving fights and public drinking.

The club’s owners, the family of late club founder Chuck Landis, could not be reached for comment.

The 982-seat club has achieved national renown for its rock concerts, boxing matches and other events. Many famous acts have performed at the club, including rock groups U2 and Bon Jovi, jazz artist Herbie Hancock and country singer Waylon Jennings.

“It’s certainly the only venue of its type in the Valley,” Adler said.