Clowns Turn Out to Picket Fence : Protest: Party store owner says mini-mall wall blocks access to his business.

There’s the Middle East war. Then there’s the San Gabriel war, centered on a patch of pavement behind a mini-mall and by a warehouse housing a party business.

But instead of bringing in armed soldiers, LA PartyWorks on Wednesday brought in the clowns. Dozens of them: mimes in whiteface, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Batman and his archrival Penguin, a stilt walker, a Merlin-robed magician, clowns on skates and more clowns.

“Block Iraq. Not Our Dock,” read one sign. It was a circus, complete with the media.

The party folks claim the mini-mall operator has shut off access to the PartyWorks warehouse, preventing big trucks filled with party gear from going in and out.

Not so, said mini-mall owner Anna Dong. She has merely put up a fence along her property line to protect her tenants and their customers from traffic generated by the warehouse, she said. And LA PartyWorks still has a narrow public alley that provides access, she said.

Police--called to the scene three times in the last week--were there again Wednesday as the battle off San Gabriel Boulevard near Las Tunas Drive reached fever pitch.

“We realize this isn’t going to accomplish our objective,” said PartyWorks manager Jeff Bader. “But we thought we’d have a little fun with it.”

But the jocularity was only on the painted smiles of the clowns, because nasty words were exchanged by all.

“They’re choking me out of business,” said PartyWorks owner Eric Elkaim.

“A reasonable compromise could be reached,” said Dong’s lawyer, Gene Koon. “But this demonstration is overdone and absolutely frivolous.”

Maybe so. But that didn’t stop some stilt-walking diplomacy by 10-foot-tall Richard Shope, who bent down to shake hands with Koon.

“I don’t think I ever had clowns to contest with before,” Koon said.