CITY HALL ROUNDUP : Mayor bends elbow, decides offbeat nightclub with Harley on bar is no threat.

URBAN DECAY?: The new Manhattan Beach club is called Reactor, and react is what residents did when the outside of the nightspot was painted all black.

Riled locals wondered what might be happening inside the stark building, whose windows are painted to look shattered. Was it an after-hours place, a biker hangout or a teeny-bopper spot?

None of the above, says Mayor Bob Holmes, who took “an investigative trip and bent an elbow with a couple of adult beverages” to check it out.

What he saw, he said, was clearly offbeat for the South Bay--the management calls it “urban decay”--but nothing to fear.

“The decor is all black, with black lights, and there’s a nice Harley-Davidson sitting on the center of the bar,” Holmes said. The place isn’t really the mayor’s style, but he predicted that it “will end up being a nice neighbor.”

The recorded music at the Highland Avenue bar ranges from Frank Sinatra to hip hop, and there are plans for big-name jams, a New York Italian-style dinner menu for families, as well as art shows--including “living art” with actors playing such homey scenes as a family breakfast.

Creator-manager Steve Scarduzio says Reactor “fills a void” in the South Bay, but most of the patrons are from faraway, trendier lands: Hollywood, Malibu, Venice and Santa Monica.

CRACKING DOWN: As state officials geared up last week for an August hearing on the revocation of the liquor license for Besties’ Bar in Hermosa Beach, rumors were rampant at City Hall that state Assemblyman Gerald Felando (R-San Pedro) is planning to intervene on the bar owner’s behalf.

The pub, as Hermosans may recall, was the subject of a local scandal when a bartender, a maintenance man and a regular patron pleaded guilty to dealing cocaine on the premises. They were each sentenced to three years on probation.

The state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control put the wheels in motion to shut down the bar by revoking its liquor license. Felando, who represents the beach cities, has said that he thinks the bar owner should be given a second chance, and that closing Besties is too harsh a punishment because “it’s a nice restaurant--it’s not a dive.”

But intervene? On Friday, Felando vehemently denied it.

WEIGHTY ISSUE: The grunts and groans last week in Carson didn’t come from the men and women lifting weights at the city-operated sports complex in Veterans Park. No, the sounds came from the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, which may have lost the latest round in its ongoing tussle with the City Council.

The council directed City Administrator Larry Olson to look into the feasibility of contracting out the sports complex operation.

Dubbed “Club Med” by its critics, the facility has been a bone of contention among the council, residents and former and present parks officials. Detractors say the lavish complex is too expensive to operate and that the $15-to-$40 monthly membership fees charged residents are too costly for many. But supporters say the year-old fitness center can pay its own expenses and possibly turn a profit within three years.

Details of the feasibility study have yet to be, um, worked out.

GREEN LIGHT: Elderly members of the New Horizons South Bay Assn. in Torrance may be slowing down a little themselves, but Tuesday they persuaded the Torrance City Council to slow down everyone else.

The residents asked the council to place a blinking light at the intersection of Maple Avenue and Nadine Circle South, a curvy portion of the road where cars sometimes zip along too fast. The council went even further and gave them a traffic signal that will cost between $75,000 and $100,000.

There could be another year and a half of dodging traffic, however, before the signal is actually installed. Until then, warning signs will let drivers know about the curve and--New Horizons residents hope--avoid the vulnerable ivy-covered fence and shrubbery along Maple Avenue.

LAST WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

Avalon: The City Council struck down a water conservation proposal that would have required restaurants and hotels to serve bottled water instead of water from the island’s own supply.

Hermosa Beach: Citing a lack of evidence, the state Fair Political Practices Commission dropped its investigation into an alleged conflict of interest involving council members Kathleen Midstokke and Roger Creighton. Former councilman Jim Rosenberger had accused Midstokke of accepting a gift from Creighton in the form of below-market rent--$400 a month--on the house she leased from him and failing to report it. But nearby tenants said they paid between $300 and $500 a month in rent. The law requires elected officials to report gifts totaling more than $250 a year. Midstokke moved out of the house last year.

Hawthorne: Mayor Betty Ainsworth, 65, announced that she will not run for reelection in November. The three-term mayor says she wants to spend more time on charitable work. But some political insiders speculate that she has her eyes on a council seat. Ainsworth responded: “At this point, it’s just not a serious thought.”

Los Angeles: The City Council, using new powers granted by voters in June when they amended the City Charter, ordered a reluctant Harbor Commission to pay a $4.26-million court settlement to Southern Pacific Transportation. The commission had planned to pay 20% and leave the remaining 80% to the city, but the City Council overruled the formerly independent commission. The suit stems from a dispute over Southern Pacific’s use of a city pier.

Manhattan Beach: The City Council approved a temporary parking attendant system at the El Porto parking lot and reduced fees to $5 from $7 during most of the year and to $4 from $5 in the winter. The city will issue “frequent-user passes” to surfers, fishermen and others. The city also raised residents’ garbage bills by 58 cents per household, to $10.53 per month from $9.95. The increase will help cover a $175,612 increase in the city’s contract with Western Waste Industries, bringing the company’s annual fee to $2.2 million.

Rancho Palos Verdes: The Planning Commission was granted responsibility to decide the height, location and number of antennas at the radio museum at the Wallace Ranch development. Radio pioneer Don Wallace’s 120-acre “antennae farm” was sold after his death in 1985, but one condition was the construction of a radio museum. Some residents consider the antennas unsightly.

Redondo Beach: The City Council voted against giving itself a raise this year, but boosted Mayor Brad Parton’s salary 5% per year. The council overrode Parton’s veto of his salary increase, saying his role was more time-consuming than theirs. Parton now makes $600 a month, while the council members make $575.

THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS

Carson: A workshop on the proposed $29.2-million 1991-92 budget will be held at 5:30 p.m. Monday at City Hall. The fiscal year began July 1, but in recent years the City Council routinely has let that deadline pass without adopting a budget.

Hermosa Beach: The City Council will hold a public hearing Tuesday on the use of a city-owned parkway for private parking by residents of walk streets and The Strand.

Palos Verdes Estates: The City Council will honor Bandit, the Police Department’s top K-9 dog. Bandit and his handler, Officer Joe Hall, won gold and bronze medals in agility and obedience during the 1991 Police and Fire World Games in Memphis, Tenn.

MEETINGS THIS WEEK

Gardena: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, 1700 W. 162nd St. 217-9565. Televised live on Channel 22 (Paragon) and repeated at 7 p.m. on the two following Sundays.

Hawthorne: 7 p.m. Monday, 4455 W. 126th St. 970-7902. Televised on Channel 22 (Paragon) at 7 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday and 6 p.m. Saturday.

Hermosa Beach: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, 1315 Valley Drive. 318-0239. Televised live on Channel 3 (Multivision).

Inglewood: 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, 1 Manchester Blvd. 412-5280. No cable telecast. Los Angeles: 10 a.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday at 200 N. Spring St., Los Angeles. In San Pedro, 548-7637; in Wilmington, 548-7586; in Harbor City/Harbor Gateway, 548-7664; in Westchester, 641-4717. Televised live on Channel 35; meetings repeated individually at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday and collectively on Sunday starting at 10 a.m.

Palos Verdes Estates: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, 340 Palos Verdes Drive West. 378-0383. No cable telecast.

Rolling Hills: 7:30 p.m. Monday, 2 Portuguese Bend Road. 377-1521. No cable telecast.

Rolling Hills Estates: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, 4045 Palos Verdes Drive North. 377-1577. Televised live on Channel 3 (Dimension).

Torrance: 7 p.m. Tuesday, 3031 Torrance Blvd. 618-5880. Televised live on Channel 22 (Paragon), and replayed at 10 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, and at 10 a.m., 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.