Councilman Asks Torrance to Study Regulation of Asian ‘Hostess Bars’

Concerned that two “hostess bars” catering to Asian businessmen might provide a base for prostitutes, Torrance City Councilman George Nakano has asked the city staff to study how to regulate the bars or limit their number.

Nakano made his request at Tuesday’s council meeting. Hostess bars, which are mainstays in Japanese and Korean cities, provide female drinking companions for businessmen in an intimate late-night atmosphere.

In interviews Wednesday, a police official and Nakano said there have been no major problems of any kind at the city’s two hostess bars, though both expressed concern that the clubs could foster prostitution.

Owners of the two hostess bars could not be reached Wednesday for comment.

Nakano said he would like to see hostess bars completely prohibited in Torrance, but knows that would be legally difficult to do. Instead, he proposed that the city “do something before we get more of these places. . . . I don’t think they are needed in our community.”

Typically in such bars, the hostesses sit with the businessmen, pouring drinks when glasses are empty, making small talk and telling jokes. The women work for salary, tips or both.

City Atty. Kenneth L. Nelson said Wednesday that he has not studied the issue in depth, but said that before any regulations can be considered the city must define the difference between a waitress and a hostess. “It’s going to take a long look,” he said.

Nakano compares the hostesses to the “B-girls” of the 1940s, who hustled patrons for drinks. He said he would like to require licenses for hostesses, similar to those required for escort services in Torrance.

Capt. Jim Weyant, who leads vice and narcotics investigations for Torrance Police, said there have been occasional reports of disputes and squabbles at the bars, but he said that is not unusual for a drinking establishment.

One of the bars is a private club on Crenshaw Boulevard in northeast Torrance, and the other, on Pacific Coast Highway near Hawthorne Boulevard, is open to the public, said Weyant.

He said police have no evidence that there is prostitution at the hostess bars, but officers have been keeping them under close watch. “We are concerned over the possibility that these (bars) could be a cover for or lead to” prostitution, he said.

“We don’t have absolute evidence that hostesses at these few places are anything other than a waitress that offers a little more friendly attitudes,” he said.

Weyant said he has no Asian officer trained to conduct that type of undercover investigation at the bar, but one could be borrowed from another law enforcement agency if evidence of prostitution is found.

He said that hostess bars are a new phenomenon in Torrance and local laws have yet to address whether they require special restrictions and guidelines. “Right now the question before us is: Do we have an innocent cultural item that has arisen in our city or do we have some kind of illegal activity or police problem.”