Bathhouse to Stay Open During City Inquiry About Sex

A Wilmington bathhouse that the city had ordered closed on grounds that it is allegedly operating as a place for sex has been given a reprieve despite neighborhood demands that it be shut down.

At an appeals hearing last week, Los Angeles associate zoning administrator James Crisp allowed the bathhouse to remain open until he receives more information supporting the City Building and Safety Department’s contention that sexual encounters have occurred at the place, a violation of city codes. Crisp gave the city two weeks to bolster its case.

Owner Martin Benson has denied that the bathhouse functions as a place for sex. Benson’s attorney, Roger J. Diamond, said “Wilmington,” as the bathhouse is known, neither promotes nor sanctions sexual conduct.

At last week’s hearing, Crisp said, “The problem is that I don’t have enough at this point to agree with building and safety that they did not err” in ordering the bathhouse closed. “We might suppose it is an establishment for sexual encounters, and we might feel it is and there might be signs of it, but that’s not the point.”

In April, the building and safety department ordered the bathhouse to comply with previous demands that it close because it was being used as a place for sexual encounters.

But Benson contends that he should not have to obey the orders because they were issued before he bought the establishment two years ago and he has since banned sexual activity.

Crisp delayed ruling on the matter, allowing the building and safety department two weeks to provide evidence supporting its case.

The building and safety department maintains sexual activity still occurs at the bathhouse and as proof it submitted to Crisp a handwritten note saying that a Los Angeles Police Department officer had observed a sex act at the club as well as an advertisement for a contest that was sexual in nature.

Crisp’s decision came despite testimony from Wilmington residents who want the bathhouse closed.

Jo Ann Wysocki, president of Wilmington Home Owners, said the bathhouse is not “compatible with community standards.”

Wysocki submitted a letter from the organization as well as ones from herself and from the pastor of the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul on Opp Street.

Residents are convinced that the bathhouse is a place for gay men to have sex, Wysocki said.

Such a bathhouse, Wysocki argued, should be closed on the grounds that it is close to a school, three churches and a residential area.

“(The bathhouse) does not provide a service for the community and is therefore a discriminatory business serving those whose lifestyle is not compatible with community standards,” Wysocki wrote.

“On behalf of our congregation of more than 2,500 families,” wrote Father Peter Irving, “I hereby express our vehement opposition to the continued operation of a ‘sexual encounter establishment.’ The members of our congregation are particularly concerned since many of their children attend the school which is located in close proximity to the establishment in question.”

Although its previous owner had acknowledged to city officials that the bathhouse was a place for sexual encounters, Benson said that has not been the case since he bought it two years ago.

The city issued the first order for closure in 1988 but a year later granted the business permission to run until March, 1991.

The business, however, remained open and on April 22, the building and safety department issued an order for the bathhouse to comply with the previous demand to close.

Benson appealed that order.

“The problem is that the people here don’t like people of different lifestyles,” Diamond, Benson’s attorney, said after the hearing. “If Ports O’ Call was dealing exclusively with gay men they’d want to shut that down, too.”