National City’s Brick Row : Neighbors Wage Limited War on Adult Bookstore

Homeowners on National City’s historic Brick Row don’t use their back-yard barbecues anymore. That’s because what they have been finding in their back yards has brought their tempers to a boil and prompted them to forbid their children to play alone behind the neighborhood homes.

“My 8-year-old found this in my back yard,” said Janice Martinelli, holding up a spent condom. “Wouldn’t that make you mad?” She pulled from a manila envelope several explicit pornographic photos her son had discovered while playing in the yard. “This is upsetting. My son can’t even play in his own back yard.”

The cause of their difficulties, residents say, is Chuck’s Books, an adult bookstore less than 75 feet from the fence behind the quaint, century-old brick houses. Residents say the store, which sells sex toys and offers secluded rooms in which to watch peep shows, is a growing disease that could destroy their neighborhood.

The store, at 929 National City Blvd., has been operating without a license for about three years, according to city officials. The city has filed various suits--both civil and criminal--to force the store’s closure, but the owners of the business have countered by accusing the city of harassment and of trying to illegally outlaw all adult businesses. The suits are not expected to come to trial until the middle of next year.

Plans for Independent Suit

Meanwhile, Martinelli has retained an attorney who says he plans to file a civil suit against Chuck’s, alleging the bookstore has caused “damage to the property and ruined the quality of life on Brick Row.”

Attorney Ken Stone said the suit will be filed within one week for a minimum of $25,000. For the moment, all Martinelli can do is wait.

Besides the emotional impact of finding pornographic material on her property, Martinelli said she can’t rent out one of the three homes she owns on Brick Row because no one wants to live next door to Chuck’s. She says she plans to demand in the suit that Chuck’s owners compensate her for the rent she has lost, and to seek damages for the adverse effect she says Chuck’s has had on her property’s value.

“This historic site used to be the pride of the city,” Martinelli said. “I moved here seven years ago because I always loved Victorian homes, and I wanted to be part of National City’s history. Now, porno perverts that scare everybody hang around; my son brings in gross pictures. That’s not right.”

Chuck’s, which is owned and operated by a father and son team, Donald and Steven Wiener, sits on property owned by Donald Wiener’s daughter, Patricia Sanders.

Steven Wiener said the complaints from the city and residents against Chuck’s are misguided and have been killing his business.

“The city is wrong,” Steven Wiener said. “We will win the lawsuits, and we’re going to stay. Some people like this kind of stuff and telling people they don’t have the right to come here.

“There have been tires cut behind the store and the trash has been set on fire. Someone came here one night and burned up a car, but I’ve never seen the police help. They just come around trying to find somebody masturbating or hanging around in the back, when there’s crime out on the streets. You draw into a shell after a while until you ride the tide out,” Steven said.

National City Police Lt. Craig Short said police have no knowledge of arson or other criminal activity at Chuck’s.

According to the National City fire marshal’s records, firefighters did respond to a fire near Chuck’s on Aug. 10, “but nobody has called me on the fire,” said Fire Marshal Patty Schiff.

Martinelli said that, because of Chuck’s, the neighborhood’s ownership pride has vanished--and she is not the only enraged resident. Another neighbor, who has owned a Brick Row home since 1942, said he is moving out because of Chuck’s.

“I’ve lived in National City since 1926,” Bill Allen said. “As a kid, I used to play handball against the wall here. I’ve lived here a long time, now I’m going to sell it.” He said he is fed up with the noise caused by Chuck’s patrons and wants to move to a “nice, quiet neighborhood.”

“I can’t stand to be closed in,” Allen said. “Now, because of all the junk going on out there, I have to keep my windows closed all the time.” He added that he doesn’t understand how the store is allowed to operate without a license.

“If I was running a business without a license, they would sure as hell close me down. I think the mayor should be able to either give them a license or shut the damn doors.”

Back Duplex Unrentable

A renter of a Brick Row unit, Jocefine Negrete, said she used to live in a back duplex, but, after repeatly encountering men engaging in homosexual activity in the alley in back of Chuck’s, she moved up front. No one will rent the back duplex, Martinelli said. “I’m scared to death to go back there,” said Negrete, who lives with her 9-year-old daughter and 2-year-old granddaughter.

Leticia Bradley, who lives on Brick Row with her husband, Charlie, and their two young children, said she has been propositioned by men coming out of Chuck’s. She said most of Chuck’s patrons are Navy men, but some hop into a Mercedes-Benz or Jaguar after leaving the store.

Bradley said she does not allow her children to play in the yard alone.

Brick Row consists of five bright-maroon, two-story brick duplexes and dates from 1887, when Frank Kimball spent the then-grand sum of $30,000 to build them. Three Victorian homes were built facing Brick Row, one of which housed Kimball. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the row was originally built to house railroad workers. After the railroad decided to make San Francisco its terminus instead of National City, Brick Row changed ownership, and has done so many times since.

Since World War II, Brick Row has had a “rough existence,” according to property manager Jim Ladd, until owners began restoring the homes. Now, owners say, although the homes are restored, the neighborhood’s reputation has crumbled.

Although most neighbors wonder how Chuck’s can remain in operation without a license, Deputy City Atty. Linda Harter said “they cannot fault the city.”

Harter said that, two years ago, City Atty. George Eiser filed a civil suit against Chuck’s on a statutory nuisance charge. That case is scheduled to go to Superior Court in May, 1989.

Shortly afterward, the city filed a criminal suit alleging a peep-show violation (having doors on stalls that show pornographic movies). The Wieners were found guilty, sentenced to 30 days in jail and fined $1,000 by a municipal judge in Chula Vista. They are now out on bail pending appeal. But, after the guilty verdict, Chuck’s did not close. Instead, the peep show doors were removed, and business as usual continued.

Recently, Harter said, she has filed three more criminal complaints against Chuck’s owners alleging business operation without a license, posting a sign with no permit and violating the dispersal statute. Under the dispersal statute, no adult entertainment business can be situated less than 1,000 feet from a residence, 1,500 feet from another adult entertainment establishment or 1,500 feet from a public park or school. Chuck’s violates all three criteria, Harter said. Right across the street from Chuck’s is another adult entertainment, the Pussycat Theatre.

The three criminal complaints will go to Superior Court in June, 1989. She said the biggest barrier to closing Chuck’s is the constitutional question of free speech raised by the defense.

Harter said that, if the three suits against Chuck’s don’t padlock the doors, she will continue to fight. “I have 30 more complaints coming down the pike that should hit them long and hard.”

The Wieners’ Beverly Hills attorney, Norman Atkins, called the suits against Chuck’s “harassment” and “unconstitutional.”

“What this is, is adult business prohibition,” Atkins said. “There is no business in National City that complies to the dispersal statute. They just want to ban adult businesses and, under the First Amendment, that’s unconstitutional.

“It’s plain harassment,” Atkins said. “The way that ordinance is written, not one adult business could exist because there’s no such location. The city has always wanted to put them out of business,” he said of the store, which was at a different National City location for six years before it moved near Brick Row. The Wieners moved down the street because their old location was redeveloped by the city.