Palladium to Remain Open Under Tentative City Pact
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The landmark Hollywood Palladium will remain open under a compromise agreement tentatively approved by the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday.
The agreement would permit extended operating hours at the troubled nightspot in exchange for increased security measures to be paid for by the club.
“If we didn’t make this deal, the Palladium would have closed forever,” said Larry Worchell, head of the partnership that owns the 53-year-old venue. The group earlier claimed that a city-imposed curfew would have forced the club to close.
Neighbors praised the compromise, scheduled for final approval next week, saying it should help resolve a series of violent melees that have erupted outside the Sunset Boulevard ballroom.
“It sounds like a Solomonic conclusion, a fair conclusion to the whole thing,” said Joe Shea, the community activist who led the campaign to reduce the club’s noise and crowds.
Complaints by neighbors and City Councilman Michael Woo reached a peak earlier this year after at least seven people were shot or stabbed when crowds were turned away from sold-out events.
On Christmas night, 100 police officers had to be called to put down a disturbance in which two teen-agers were wounded by gunfire and another person was stabbed.
The City Council in February imposed earlier closing hours--1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, 11 p.m. on Sundays and midnight the rest of the week.
But the Palladium’s owners filed a $50-million lawsuit last month, charging that the hours led to the cancellation of events and effectively prevented them from booking many youth-oriented musical acts. The restrictions had the effect of taking the property without proper compensation, the lawsuit charged.
If the compromise receives final approval, the suit would be dismissed.
Tuesday’s tentative agreement permits the club to remain open until 2 a.m. on 20 nights a month.
In addition, the club agreed to hire a security consultant and to pay for any extraordinary police responses to concerts or other events. The club also agreed to reimburse the city for $8,000 in police costs incurred during the December melee.
The Palladium security arrangements will be reviewed in six months and then annually.
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