Public Lewdness Drops at 2 Arcades, L.A. Says

Two sex video arcades in the San Fernando Valley have improved their operations in the past year, the city attorney’s office said Friday, amid continuing speculation about a federal judge’s ruling in a key case involving the two establishments.

“The two are still operating, although the nature of their operations has changed for the better,” said Assistant City Atty. Byron Boeckman.

Hired security guards have reduced incidents of public lewdness, he said.

But Boeckman refused to say whether the businesses--Jason’s II in North Hollywood and Brand X Video in Van Nuys--would be prosecuted under the state’s Red Light Abatement Act if that statute’s constitutionality is upheld in a pending federal court case.

The firms in April, 1989, sued to block what they feared would be red light abatement action against them by the city attorney’s office.

The firms challenged the constitutionality of the red light law and won a stay of any city action to enforce that law against them.

Under the Red Light Abatement Act, a prosecutor can completely shut down a sexually oriented business for up to one year.

Thursday, U.S. District Judge William M. Byrne Jr. ruled that the law was constitutional.

However, within hours Byrne withdrew the decision, on the grounds that it improperly cited an ineligible state appellate court decision as a precedent.

“Will it change the outcome? Maybe it means nothing. Maybe it means everything,” said Duane Hostetter, Byrne’s clerk. “It’s a clean slate.”

The city attorney’s office has said the red light law is a useful tool in its efforts to control lewd conduct, particularly public masturbation in booths used by patrons to view sex videos.