Club Reopens With Nude Dancers : Northridge: About 60 patrons show up after a judge decides against extending a city order that had closed Extasy. Opponents plan to continue their fight.

The Extasy club in Northridge reopened with nude women dancers as entertainment on Tuesday night, freed by a Superior Court judge from a city order that closed it following a neighborhood uproar.

Judge Ronald M. Sohigian declared that he would not extend an order forbidding nude dancing as a violation of zoning ordinances because it would result in “the imminent destruction of the defendant’s business,” which a spokesman for the city attorney’s office said cast a shadow on all zoning ordinances to limit such establishments.

“The actual balance of hardships tips rather strongly in favor of the defendants,” Sohigian wrote in his decision.

The judge said his “order does not constitute a determination of the ultimate merits of the controversy,” which can only be decided in a trial. No trial date has been set.

About 60 patrons showed up to sip soft drinks and fruit juices when the club--which has no license to serve alcoholic beverages--reopened, watching a dozen dancers take turns performing on Extasy’s two stages. Police visited the club about 6:30 p.m. and a fire marshal inspected the site about 8 p.m., Extasy spokesman Steve Gamer said.

The judge’s decision follows a Monday hearing in which Extasy’s attorneys argued that city officials had issued a valid use permit and then changed their minds because of political pressure from Northridge residents, after club owners invested considerable funds to establish the business. Extasy attorney John H. Weston said club owners believed that their permit was obtained legally and were only informed by the city that nude dancing was prohibited by the location’s zoning just before opening.

“My clients behaved completely properly,” Weston said. “They just wanted to find a place where they could offer this type of entertainment legally.”

The city attorney’s office “will review Judge Sohigian’s opinion, assess the scope and magnitude of his decision and will await City Council instructions as to whether to file an appeal,” said Ted Goldstein, a spokesman for City Atty. James Hahn.

But he said the decision complicates the city’s control over zoning matters.

“It would appear to limit a municipality’s zoning codes and ability . . . to regulate businesses of this nature,” Goldstein added. “Essentially this municipality’s zoning codes will have to be reviewed.”

Opponents--including Councilman Hal Bernson, who represents the Northridge area and has spearheaded opposition to the club--plan to fight on.

“We are surprised and disappointed by Judge Sohigian’s action,” aide Ali Sar said. “We will ask the city attorney’s office to file an appeal with the Court of Appeals. Bernson will ask the Police Commission to revoke the entertainment permit.”

Tuesday’s action is the latest twist in a controversy that began even before the club opened Jan. 15 at Corbin Avenue and Nordhoff Street. The club, on the site of the former Breakers Seafood Restaurant, has been the focus of a dispute since July, when Extasy’s owners applied for a permit to open a juice bar with nude dancers.

The use permit that allowed the Breakers to open explicitly banned striptease dancing, city inspectors said. When the club opened anyway, city building-code inspectors cited the owners, saying it was operating in violation of its zoning permit.

The owners responded that the club’s dancers remove their clothing off stage between musical numbers, and thus were not doing a strip tease, in which dancers usually doff clothes during their performances.

On Jan. 23, Superior Court Judge Robert O’Brien rejected that argument and ordered the club to stop offering nude or striptease dancing until a hearing on its zoning status. Sohigian, in rejecting the city’s request for a preliminary injunction, in effect rescinded O’Brien’s order.

In February, the club tried to operate with dancers in bikinis, but could not draw a profitable crowd and closed until it was allowed to reopen Tuesday night.