BREA : Shop Seen as a Flimsy Subterfuge

For the $50 purchase of women’s underwear, patrons at the Queen Lingerie shop here can watch scenes such as a scantily clad model kneeling on an executive desk in “the Board Room,” posing between American and California flags and a picture of Richard M. Nixon staring blankly at her.

To the mostly male patrons and the operators at Queen Lingerie, it’s a harmless fantasy. But to residents of a nearby exclusive neighborhood, the scene--which plays out every day--is a dangerous mix of eroticism and peep show, and they want it to stop.

“I have children that play three blocks from there,” one resident told the City Council recently, who said of the shop’s clients: “We don’t need guys like that hanging around.”

City officials have tried to stop the show too, although not on the moral grounds raised by neighbors.

The business was slapped with a misdemeanor criminal complaint last week, alleging that it is operating an adult modeling studio, functioning as a public dance hall and providing public entertainment without the proper permits. Each charge carries the possibility of a six-month jail term and a $500 fine for the owners.

“The point here is that the city of Brea doesn’t care what they are doing in there,” city prosecutor Gregory Palmer said. “They could have an oom-pah-pah band for all we care. We just want them to have a (proper) permit.”

A revised permit would require City Council approval. About four months ago, the council granted shop owners Hassan Halabi and Nabil Abouriche a basic operating permit.

Since the city filed its order for the facility to stop operating, the shop has undergone a $25,000 renovation, its managers say.

Laurence A. Young, an attorney representing the shop, said that more is revealed at the beach than at the private showings and that the models are doing nothing wrong.

The owners “are of the opinion that Brea just doesn’t want them there,” said Young, who appeared Monday in Municipal Court to answer the city’s complaint. The judge continued the case for 30 days.

During the renovation, the sterile examining rooms in what was once a chiropractor’s office were transformed into “theme rooms,” but critics say they are little more than peep-show cubicles.

There is the paneled Board Room; the Jail Cell, complete with bars and a toilet; the Island Room, where models perch on a swing suspended from wooden beams, and The Underground, decorated with fluorescent paint and strobe lights. Elsewhere, there is very little lingerie in the lingerie shop.

The exclusive Country Hills area of the city, with its cookie-cutter homes and immaculate lawns, contrasts sharply with the shop on the corner of Birch Street and Kraemer Boulevard.

“I have a real sense of fear,” said one resident who asked not to be named. “It only takes one nut. I am all for freedom, but it has to be balanced with responsibility.”

Christy, 19, a community college student who works from 4 to 10 p.m., said clients come to see the lingerie, and that is exactly what they get.

Besides, Christy added, business has not been good since the hoopla started. After being featured on the tabloid TV shows “Hard Copy” and “Inside Edition,” many regular clients stopped coming by. When Geraldo Rivera threatened to bring a camera crew, it made matters worse.

“Most (male clients) are married,” Christy said. Before they visit, “they call up and ask if the television cameras are here.”