Controversy Rolls on : City May Revoke Bowling Alley’s Permit After Complaints From Residents

As president of the Glendale Chamber of Commerce in the late 1950s, James Sloan was delighted when a group of businessmen made plans to open a bowling alley on a sleepy street called Foothill Boulevard.

“We thought it would be a good place for kids to hang out,” Sloan said. “Of course, we endorsed the idea.”

Sloan never guessed that a generation later, his daughter and son-in-law--Sherry and Dan Stubbs--would buy a townhouse overlooking that same bowling alley.

And the last thing he expected was that the bowling alley would become a painful thorn in the side of Dan Stubbs, who contends that it attracts all manner of unsavory characters.

“This is our home,” Stubbs said of his townhouse, whose sweeping view of the Verdugo Hills is punctuated by the sight of pool tables, a video arcade and a huge Dr. Pepper machine below. “We have a right to be secure in our home, free of profanity, clutter and garbage.”

Stubbs, who is president of the Heritage Townhome Owners Assn. Inc., contends that is exactly what he gets from the bowling alley: a steady stream of profanity, clutter and garbage from patrons who loiter outside into the wee hours.

As a result of repeated complaints about the situation, Glendale recently put the Verdugo Hills Bowling Alley, near Pennsylvania Avenue and Foothill Boulevard, on notice that the city will revoke the conditional use permit, which allows the bowling alley to serve alcoholic beverages and operate a video arcade.

Bowling alley owner Bert DeMascio is not worried about the threat to revoke his permit, which was issued in 1984, and plans to appeal the notice before Wednesday’s deadline. He said that he would comply with all ordinances before shutting down his business. But he accuses the zoning administrator of harassing him because of complaints by Stubbs and other townhome owners.

“This is a well-managed place,” DeMascio said. “I have janitors working around the clock. But because everybody’s a human being, they might not find every single beer bottle out in the parking lot.”

DeMascio contends that he has done a lot to the property since 1984, including spending $50,000 on landscaping and a 10-foot wall between the parking lot and the alley next to the townhomes.

Visits this past Friday and Saturday night revealed a busy, seemingly orderly sports complex.

On Friday night, off-duty police officers Doug Staubs and Bill Fishback, hired as guards, kept an eye on the dozens of bowlers and their families as well as on the kids playing video games and shooting pool. Meanwhile, bartender Ken Linehan Jr. served up a nonstop stream of drinks while admonishing everyone leaving the bar to “be careful.”

Outside, the parking lot was calm, except for occasional loud voices from teen-agers coming or going in their cars. There was a bit of graffiti on the back wall, and Stubbs said the overturned satellite dish on the roof of the building is an eyesore.

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Both sides, however, agree that the problems at the bowling alley are not as bad as they once were, and Glendale police say the business is not a major law enforcement problem.

“We maintain this place for the customers,” DeMascio said. “If the place is dirty, or if we get bikers and drug dealers, then we’re not going to get the customers. The customer is why we do what we do.”

Stubbs, while conceding “it’s gotten a little better,” still complains of “yelling, screaming, public hanging out and urination, and graffiti” and believes that if he doesn’t keep a vigilant eye on the property it will fall into disrepair.

“This is our neighborhood,” he said, “and if we don’t take care of it then nobody will.”

Stubbs maintains that many of the problems would be solved if the bowling alley would comply with the 1984 conditional-use permit requirement that it have a guard in the parking lot from 5:30 p.m. until closing time. Most of the neighbors living in the row of townhouses that border the bowling alley agree. A few years ago nearly all of them signed a petition to get the bowling establishment to stop traffic from leaving the parking lot through the back alley after hours.

For DeMascio, it’s a philosophical question. He wants to run the business his way--and his way is to hire the off-duty police officers to patrol the inside of the building and handle outside disturbances as they arise.

“The reality is that the things they want us to correct are correctable,” DeMascio said. “It’s the principle of the thing. I had a 10-year agreement (with the zoning administrator) and I should still be living under the old agreement.”

That argument does not sit well with acting zoning administrator Byron Foote, who said all businesses must meet code requirements.

In a letter dated Jan. 19, Foote provided a list of reasons for revoking the permit: the landscaping needs to improved, a one-way vehicle control device to block cars from entering the alley behind the Heritage Townhomes needs to be maintained, the building needs a permit for its rooftop satellite dish and there is no trash enclosure or loading zone area.

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While Foote works to hold the bowling alley to the letter of the law, there are some who seek a happy medium.

Judy Seeling, another resident of the Heritage Townhouses, credits Stubbs with having a positive effect on the atmosphere around the bowling alley.

But, she thinks there is a limit. “I happen to like to bowl,” she said. “And, everyone knows, you can’t bowl without drinking beer.”