City Atty. Drops Jonathan Club Sex Bias Suit

Los Angeles City Atty. James K. Hahn dropped the city’s anti-discrimination lawsuit against the once all-male Jonathan Club on Thursday, saying the downtown private club had agreed to serve women in its second-floor bar and grill.

But club President Gary W. Hankins said the club had never discriminated against women in the first place.

While welcoming the city’s decision, Hankins reiterated the club’s position that the one-time male institution--the membership voted in 1987 to admit women--did not discriminate against women by refusing them service in the bar and grill.

“As we have stated frequently, the bar and grill is traditionally frequented by men but we have not refused service to women,” Hankins said. “I want to emphasize that the club is not changing or altering any of its prior policies or traditions as a result of this lawsuit.”

But Hahn’s office saw it differently, contending that the club, located at 545 S. Figueroa St., had been guilty of a continuing pattern of discrimination since women were admitted as members. Of the club’s 3,700 members, less than 100 are women, club officials said.

Despite his disagreement with Hahn over the settlement’s significance, Hankins said he was pleased with the city attorney’s decision to drop the lawsuit.

“This serves to further clear up the misconceptions about the Jonathan Club,” Hankins said.

Told of Hankins’ comments, Deputy City Atty. Kevin T. Ryan, who handled the city’s case, said:

“They can put whatever spin they want on this. We’re just interested in making sure that women are not discriminated against and not excluded from the business and professional life of this city.”

As proof that the club discriminated, Hahn said, it was forced by the lawsuit to change the name of the bar and grill area from the “Men’s Grill” to the “Second Floor Grill and Tap Room.”

Hahn said he decided to drop the lawsuit when club officials agreed to let women be served in the bar and grill.

The lawsuit was filed in January, 1988, charging that the operation of the club’s bar and grill violated both a city ordinance prohibiting discrimination by clubs or organizations that are not distinctly private, and the state Unruh Civil Rights Act.

Before the city filed its suit, however, club officials filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles federal court challenging the constitutionality of the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance. The club argued that the law was “unconstitutional as it is being applied to the club, because the club is a purely private institution.”

Senior U.S. District Judge Jesse Curtis threw out the club’s suit in September, leaving the matter in the state courts, where the city law had been upheld.