Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Exotic Dance Club Is the Subject of Court-Ordered Cover-Up : Legal: Temporary restraining order prevents Castaic Junction dancers from appearing in the nude. Two sides will meet today to try to settle dispute.

The Santa Clarita Valley’s only exotic dance club, opening full-time today, will not feature anything too exotic--at least for the near future.

A restraining order prevents Castaic Junction: A Gentleman’s Club from presenting all-nude dancing as planned. Instead, the dancing women at the club, located near Six Flags Magic Mountain, will be wearing bathing suits.

The Newhall Land & Farming Co., the developer that leases the building to the club operator, got the court order demanding that the women cover up.

“This is a family-oriented community and we don’t feel this type of establishment is appropriate,” said Marlee Lauffer, a spokeswoman for the developer. She said club officials did not indicate they planned to offer exotic dancing when they signed the lease for the building.

She said her company began hearing rumors the club would be a strip joint a few weeks ago, but did not confirm them until last week.

Entertainment is allowed by the lease, but none that is “lewd or offensive,” she said.

The temporary restraining order was obtained Friday in Van Nuys Superior Court. A court hearing on the matter is scheduled July 15, although the two sides are expected to meet today to try to resolve their differences.

The club, done up in pink and green, will open at 11 a.m. for lunch and then continue on a seven-day-a-week lunch and dinner schedule. The restaurant is in a separate area from the lounge where the dancers are to perform.

The owner of the club, Stuart Caldwell, was not available for comment late Tuesday on the lease, but indicated earlier he intends to challenge the restraining order so that he can offer all-nude dancing.

He said he had worked in similar establishments for 11 years and considers Santa Clarita the ideal location for a live adult entertainment club.

“The place is just screaming for entertainment of this type,” he said.

But the noise from many, including the building’s owner, sounds more like a moan.

“I moved up here 22 years ago to raise a family,” said Andi Karwoski, a receptionist for the Valencia Water Co. voicing her objection to the Castaic Junction club across the street. “I never felt any need for adult entertainment.”

Joan Miles, another Valencia Water Co. employee, expressed more disappointment than disdain at the nature of the club, located in a building that has housed several other restaurants over the years.

“I was hoping for more of a family place where I could eat,” she said.

Richard, the club’s manager (who would not give his last name), said that Castaic Junction will be “high class,” with no intimate touching of the dancers allowed by customers. The dancers will also not be allowed to date customers, he said.

“People get this idea of men coming and getting their kicks and that’s not what we’re about,” Richard said. “You come in, see beautiful women. It’s a fantasy world.”

Caldwell said many of the club’s estimated 35 dancers are local and include college students, working professionals and single mothers. The club manager said the swimsuits the dancers will be wearing--at least at first--will be skimpy. “They’re about the limit of what you can wear,” Richard said, but he added: “You can see as much legally on the beach.”

Despite Caldwell’s enthusiasm over opening the only adult club in Santa Clarita, history has shown that sex-oriented businesses have not done well here.

The only cable company to carry the Playboy channel took it off the air due to lack of viewership. A drive-through condom shop faltered within months of opening due to lack of business and pressure from opponents including Councilwoman Jan Heidt, who threatened to videotape customers at the location.

Ray Tellez, assistant manager of a trucking firm adjacent to the club, said he might eat there occasionally since it is the closest restaurant to where he works. But he waved off the suggestion of going to the club for the entertainment, stating he might have done so 20 years ago, but not now.

“If you seen one, you’ve seen them all,” he said.