Friday Night Live Shows Teen-Agers How to Party All Night Long, Clean and Sober : Pacoima: An anti-drug group entertains the youths and throws business in the direction of a pizza parlor that doesn’t serve alcohol.

Three years ago, anti-liquor crusader Augie Maldonado was at war with Pistol Pete’s, a pizza parlor planning to open in Pacoima, battling to prevent the restaurant from obtaining a license to sell alcoholic beverages.

He lost the fight. But now Maldonado is one of the restaurant’s biggest supporters and even steers business its way.

“They did the right thing,” he said.

Pistol Pete’s, which opened a year ago, has had its liquor license since October, but has yet to sell even one glass of beer or wine with its pizzas. In their part of the bargain, Maldonado and other civic leaders are drumming up customers for the restaurant at Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Osborne Street.

On Friday night, Maldonado found a way to reward the restaurant for holding back the booze while promoting a program that tries to teach teen-agers that they can have a good time without having a drink. He sent the restaurant a large party--of about 300.

As newly appointed social action coordinator in Los Angeles County for Friday Night Live, a statewide group that plans sober and drug-free activities for young people, Maldonado arranged with the restaurant to hold an overnight “lock-in party”--the first such event in the San Fernando Valley.

The state-funded Friday Night Live has been active in the Valley only since December. Created in 1984 in Sacramento County, the program was expanded by former Gov. George Deukmejian in 1987. It was named Friday Night Live after the NBC comedy show “Saturday Night Live” and because so many teen-agers died in drunk-driving accidents on Friday nights.

Today, it is organized in 50 of California’s 58 counties and serves as a model for programs in other states, said Los Angeles County Director John Berndt. Now, in its third year in the county, Friday Night Live is working in 85 high schools and is beginning a new program, Club Live, in junior high schools.

“It really gives kids the opportunity to do what they want without pressure from their friends to use alcohol or other drugs,” Berndt said. “It works.”

He cited statistics showing that drunk-driving accidents involving teen-agers have steadily declined since the organization’s inception. Berndt added that the organization, which spent only $1.3 million during its first three years, has received funding for another two years.

On Friday, armed with signed permission slips from their parents, youths from throughout northern Los Angeles County lined up in Pistol Pete’s parking lot at 10 p.m., paid a $5 entry fee and waited for Friday Night Live workers to call their names over bullhorns so they could enter.

Anticipating all the pizza they could eat, meeting new friends and partying until 7 a.m., the teen-agers didn’t seem to mind being frisked for weapons and drugs by Berndt and other staffers.

“They soon find out they can have a blast without getting high,” Berndt said.

Inside, the youths dived into the pizza and cola placed on tables and began to dance and play video games.

Most of the teen-agers said they did not mind going to a drug- and alcohol-free party once in a while.

“This is fun,” said Mack Goudeau, 16, of Pacoima. “You get to meet new people.”

Allison Arzuman, 15, of Palmdale said she does not drink, even at parties where other people do. “You can have just as much fun without it.”

“It’s good for gangs to unite to have fun and not fight,” said Marcos Simon, 14, of Van Nuys, who identifies with a Blythe Street gang. “They almost shot my brother. I want peace.”

Members of several rival youth gangs were evident at the party, a fact that made Augie Maldonado and others a bit uneasy despite the many security people and chaperons in the room. As a safety precaution, the teen-agers were not allowed to leave the party until it was over.

But Maldonado’s fears were for naught. Saturday, Los Angeles police reported that the event caused no major problems.

Shortly before 1 a.m., about 30 youths who had not preregistered gathered in the parking lot to watch the festivities from outside. At one point, they started banging on the restaurant’s windows and demanded to be allowed inside. Several patrol units appeared within minutes and the crowd was quietly and quickly dispersed.

“This just emphasizes the reason we’re doing this,” Maldonado said. “The kids are banging on the windows trying to get in. They don’t have anything to do.”

Friday Night Live staffer Joey Avila, 19, of San Fernando and his committee had planned the event almost to the minute--before, during and after the party--so that boredom wouldn’t have a chance.

From 8:30 to 10 p.m., a committee was assigned to decorate the room with balloons and to set up tables, a movie projector and other items. After the youths entered the restaurant between 10 and 11 p.m., activities were scheduled almost every 15 to 20 minutes.

There were skeeball and video game tournaments, a mystery game on a city street set built by students, karaoke singing, lip-sync and dance contests and live entertainment. At 5 a.m., a continental breakfast was followed by an awards ceremony for contest winners.

Avila and others predicted that many youths would become Friday Night Live converts before the event was over.

“They find out there are a lot of teen-agers out there willing to have fun without alcohol and drugs,” said Laurie Lopez, 17, an Friday Night Live volunteer and cheerleader at Polytechnic High School in Sun Valley.

“You can get crazy without getting high,” Avila said.

Friday Night Live took so long to reach San Fernando, Pacoima and other communities--where civic leaders believe crime rises and falls in relationship to the number of liquor outlets--because it was geared toward Anglo teen-agers.

“It wasn’t addressing people of color,” said Abel Sedillo, the group’s coordinator for the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys. “It was an organization for affluent youths.”

As such, Friday Night Live initially focused on curbing teen-age drunk driving, which was seen as a problem among white youths, Sedillo said. Now, it has broadened to include the prevention of drug and alcohol abuse and targets “at risk” youth in low-income and minority communities.

Friday’s party, co-sponsored by the Latin American Civic Assn. and the San Fernando Valley Partnership, a coalition of community groups, was deemed a success by all involved.

Besides giving 300 youths a night of fun, it grossed about $4,000 for Pistol Pete’s, which Friday Night Live paid $10 for each youngster on top of the $5 each teen-ager paid. The restaurant is considering holding similar events in the future.

But even if Friday Night Live does not return, community leaders and groups such as the Pacoima Coordinating Council say they still plan to refer business to Pistol Pete’s. And business is booming as a result, said company spokeswoman Sandy Medina, though she added that the restaurant still could decide to put liquor on its menu.

“We just can’t say for sure that we’ll never sell alcoholic beverages,” she said. “That’s up to the corporate office.”

But Maldonado is hopeful that the campaign to keep Pistol Pete’s liquor-free--and teen-agers sober--can work.

“We call it a win-win partnership,” Maldonado said.

The northeast Valley, he said, “badly needs a family restaurant. And Pistol Pete’s management has learned that clean and sober is the community’s choice.”