City’s Curfews Putting Palladium’s Fate in Jeopardy : Pop music: Most of the 40 events scheduled during the next three months will apparently be canceled by promoters.

The Hollywood Palladium is open . . . at least through early next week.

Three events are happening there through Tuesday, but as the fate of the landmark facility remains in question, anxious promoters are scrambling to book alternative sites for their concerts and special events.

Most of the 40 events scheduled at the ballroom during the next three months will apparently be canceled because the promoters, who lease the ballroom, are unable or unwilling to operate under new curfew restrictions enacted last week by the Los Angeles City Council after numerous incidents of crowd control and assault caused during the past two years.

Even those events that could go ahead with the new curfews (midnight on weekdays, 1 a.m. on weekends) may have to look elsewhere, because Mark Midgley, the Palladium’s general manager, says that the loss of business he is anticipating will likely force him to close the doors of the historical, 52-year-old facility.

That could be as soon as next Wednesday, after a concert by the English rock band Ned’s Atomic Dustbin on Friday, an annual Brazilian festival on Saturday and the opening Sunday of a three-day Mardi Gras festival. Midgley says that even if the room remains open, only seven of the planned 40 events will work under the curfews.

“If we’re able to generate business that’s willing to accept the curfews, which is highly unlikely, then it will remain open,” Midgley said. “It’s just a matter of finance. A lot of the dance parties aren’t accustomed to being over at 1 a.m. Patrons can go to the Palace around the corner or lots of other places and stay until 2.

“All we’ve ever asked for is a compromise . . . restrictions that will allow the Palladium to remain competitive.”

Though many involved with events there complain that the building is in ill-repair and speculate that the owners ultimately wish to sell it, they consider it irreplaceable. The challenge in finding alternative venues is matching the Palladium’s 3,750 capacity, its central location and its relatively low overhead, industry sources said.

Goldenvoice, a Los Angeles rock concert promotions firm, held 38 shows at the Palladium under an exclusive arrangement in 1992. Paul Tollett, the company’s co-owner, says that the only real viable alternative for such shows would be the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, not just in terms of capacity and costs, but also the physical set-up. Most concerts Goldenvoice held at the Palladium were for aggressive alternative rock acts whose fans like to slam-dance on an open floor.

“The Palladium is great because it’s centrally located, and a lot of bands coming from out of the country want to play there,” he said. “It’s Hollywood. They want to play there, not the suburbs.”

The Palladium has become the L.A. home of major alternative-rock shows in recent years, hosting such acts as Sonic Youth, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Alice in Chains, as well as numerous benefits for such organizations as Rock for Choice and the Magic Johnson AIDS Foundation. This adds to a rock legacy that includes historic appearances by the Rolling Stones, Sly & the Family Stone and the Clash.

The only other sites suited for rock concerts in the vicinity of the Palladium are the Palace and the Henry Fonda Theatre, but both have only about one-third of the Palladium’s capacity, and the Fonda is a sit-down venue that would be unsuitable for many of the rowdier rock acts.

Organizers of the Ebony Fashion Fair, which has been held at the Palladium for the past 35 years, are exploring alternatives for the event, scheduled for Easter Sunday. Plans for a Persian New Year’s party on March 20, one of six Persian events held at the Palladium each year, are also on hold.