Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Santa Clarita Teen-Agers Lose Another Hangout : Recreation: Magic Mountain closes its once-popular After Hours dance club. It was one of the few places that young people could go.

Magic Mountain has shuttered its After Hours teen-age nightclub to make way for a new Batman attraction, and Santa Clarita officials are concerned about where the kids are going to go.

“There will certainly be a gap that will need to be filled,” said Cecilia Burda, the city’s special projects manager. “It presents challenges.”

“It wasn’t quite as popular in the last couple of years as it had been in the past,” said Eileen Harrell, a spokeswoman for the Valencia theme park, which closed After Hours in May.

Two separate outbreaks of violence April 17 were a “very minor consideration” in the closure of the club, Harrell said. More than 60 injuries were reported during those incidents and several businesses near the park were ransacked by youths.

The theme park blamed rap music entertainers performing at the park for the riot, while others held Magic Mountain responsible for allegedly overselling the concert and the park. The After Hours nightclub was not part of the concert.

The open-air dance club was extremely popular when it opened in 1987, Harrell said. It had a capacity of about 900.

“Clubs here go in cycles, just like they do everywhere,” Harrell said.

Santa Clarita, however, is a near-graveyard when it comes to places for kids with no transportation to go.

The city does hold monthly dances, usually in the fall, but did not do so during the summer because it couldn’t compete with the theme park.

“If the kids had a choice between going to a city dance and one at Magic Mountain, they went to Magic Mountain,” Burda said. The city dances are held at the Boys & Girls Club gym, which doesn’t have the laser lighting or the deafening speakers of After Hours.

“It’s a perfect opportunity for a private operator to come into the city to offer that,” Burda said.

City officials said they recognize the need for more places for teen-agers to hang out and said they are trying to do something about it.

“The city has actively recruited the Fun Center, specifically so that teen-agers have something to do,” said Gail Foy, spokeswoman for the city. The center, promising miniature golf, bumper boats, a roller-skating rink and an arcade, is expected to arrive in early spring.