NEWPORT BEACH : Massage Parlor Gets Permit on Appeal

The City Council this week overturned a Planning Commission decision to deny an operating permit to a massage parlor where an employee was arrested for prostitution last year.

The permit application by the Getaway massage parlor was sent to the council on appeal after being denied last month by the Planning Commission on a 5-2 vote. The permit denial was reversed by the council 5-0, with Councilwomen Evelyn R. Hart and Janice A. Debay absent.

Despite the council’s favorable vote, George Grove, a Hollywood-based attorney for the Getaway and other massage parlors in Newport Beach, said he intends to file a series of lawsuits challenging a city ordinance that regulates massage parlors.

The Getaway, at 2009 Quail St., is owned by Karol Anna Tran. One of its employees was fired last year after being arrested on a prostitution charge. The employee was later convicted, but the conviction is under appeal.

The Getaway has been open since 1987 and has only the one prostitution conviction by an employee, according to city records.

Mayor Clarence J. Turner, whose district includes the Getaway, said he voted to approve the business’ operating permit because, “I don’t believe that because an employee was convicted, that this be grounds for revoking an operator’s license.”

Two more massage parlors will appeal permit denials on March 22.