Violence Has Downtown Clubs Pondering Future

An argument that escalated into a shooting in a crowded downtown nightclub early Thursday morning left one man dead, a woman slightly injured and some club owners questioning the future of night life in downtown Los Angeles.

The shooting occurred about 1:45 a.m. in a crowd of about 700 people at the Mayan Night Club in the 1000 block of Hill Street, where a private promoter was sponsoring a weekly “Jamaica House Party” of rap music, under tight security.

William C. Thomas, 27, of Los Angeles was shot in the chest shortly after he attempted to intervene in an argument between the alleged gunman, Roy Summers, 28, of Los Angeles, and a woman at one of the club’s bars, police said.

“Thomas asked Summers to leave (the woman) alone,” homicide Detective Al Gonzales said. “Summers left, but he returned a short time later with a gun and fired three or four shots, wounding Thomas.”

Thomas was taken to County-USC Medical Center where he died a short time later, Gonzales said. A 23-year-old woman, a bystander whose name was withheld, was treated at the scene for a minor bullet wound to the leg. Summers fled the club and was being sought by police.

The Mayan has a 30-person security force, which frisks patrons after they have passed through a metal detector at the club’s front doors.

Sammy Chao, owner of the Mayan, said police told him that a witness saw the gunman smuggle his weapon into the club through an opening in an iron fence that secured an outdoor alley on the side of the building.

Thursday’s shooting occurred less than a week after Joseph Chinedu, 34, was beaten and shot to death outside the Glam Slam dance club in the 300 block of South Boylston Street. And several weeks ago, police broke up a street melee outside the Mayan after angry patrons were turned away because of overcrowding.

Some club owners are questioning whether such incidents will keep people away from downtown Los Angeles, whose image was tarnished by last year’s riots.

“The people from the suburbs don’t come downtown anymore like they used to,” said Chao. “This kind of violence is not good for business. It’s not good for the image of downtown.”

Chao’s concerns were echoed by Jim Colachis, president of Glam Slam, a downtown club partly owned by recording artist Prince.

“It’s terrible for any business downtown or anywhere,” Colachis said. “When the riots took place, downtown got blamed. It destroyed business, but business has been picking up.”

Built in 1927, the Mayan, whose design is said to resemble a pre-Columbian temple, was at one time a burlesque house that, some say featured a then-little-known artist named Marilyn Monroe.

The Mayan was also a pornographic theater before it was resurrected as a dance club by Chao, who purchased the building four years ago.

Chao said the club’s recent problems stem from his decision to allow an independent promoter to put on rap and reggae dances. He said such events attract a younger, more raucous crowd.

“We tried to keep the problems out, but I guess we were not able to. Now I’m fed up,” he said, vowing to cancel the Wednesday night rap-and-reggae events.