Violence Prompts Limits on Palladium Operating Hours : Hollywood: City Council acts after continued reports of unruly crowds, shootings and stabbings.

Expressing frustration with recent violence at the Hollywood Palladium, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday voted to curtail the landmark ballroom’s hours of operation and require management to increase in-house security.

By a 12-0 vote, the council put the Palladium’s owners on notice that it will shut down the venerable landmark unless they take steps to curb unruly behavior there.

Under the restrictions, the Palladium will be required to close by 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and by 11 p.m. on Sundays. It may remain open until midnight other days.

Until now, there have been no limits on how late the ballroom could stay open.

Los Angeles police say the aging ballroom--once the musical home to Lawrence Welk and other entertainers--has become a violent trouble spot where bullets fly and police helicopters swirl overhead while officers on the ground struggle to control crowds.

Police say at least seven people have been shot or stabbed at the Palladium in the last six months during rampages by patrons unable to get inside for events that were either sold out or oversold.

Twice in two years authorities have taken the unusual step of declaring a tactical alert there, most recently during a Christmas night dance where more than 100 police--including 60 in riot gear--were called to quell a disturbance in which two teen-agers were wounded by gunfire and another person was stabbed.

Those favoring sanctions, including the mother of one of the wounded teen-agers, hailed Tuesday’s action as long overdue.

“No one wants to see the Palladium go dark, but we do want management to be held accountable,” said Councilman Michael Woo, who represents Hollywood and who was the principal advocate of the sanctions.

Several of the Palladium’s owners, meanwhile, hinted that the restrictions may force it to close.

“The question is whether groups are going to want to use it if they know they’ll have to be out the door (by midnight or 1 a.m.),” said real estate investor Larry Worschell, one of about three dozen owners.

The venue, which has hosted five Presidents and countless entertainers in its 53 years, was dealt a blow last year when a key city official took steps to revoke its permits to allow dancing and serve liquor.

Citing an epidemic of law enforcement problems, Zoning Administrator James J. Crisp recommended that the ballroom be turned into a supper club.

The owners, a politically influential group of investors that includes parking company executives Steve Ullman and Steve Silberman, later persuaded the Board of Zoning Appeals to spare the permits.

The owners had originally requested Tuesday’s hearing in hopes that the City Council would lift other restrictions imposed by the zoning panel.

But that was before the Christmas violence, which renewed public criticism of the Palladium and influenced Tuesday’s decision to restrict its hours.

The Palladium also faces problems with the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, which has started proceedings to revoke its liquor license, although the owners have appealed.

Critics complain that in recent years the owners have done little to maintain the building.

City officials say their complaints to the owners have gone unheeded, and that they have been unable to communicate directly with a Hong Kong businesswoman who leases the facility.

Mark Midgley, who was hired by the businesswoman, Yat Ping Tsui, to manage the Palladium last year, said she is currently unavailable.

On Tuesday, several Palladium employees and event promoters said the sanctions will force the hall to close.

Mayoral candidate Julian Nava has attacked fellow candidate Woo for being “insensitive” to racial minorities who make up much of the Palladium’s clientele.

Woo dismissed the accusation as “ludicrous,” saying the city owed it to Hollywood residents and the Palladium’s patrons to ensure safety there.