Zoning Panel Reduces Hours at Le Sex Shoppe : Canoga Park: Adult bookstore that has angered neighboring businesses must also hire two security guards.

To the delight of frustrated neighbors, a Los Angeles zoning panel voted Tuesday to substantially reduce the operating hours of a Canoga Park adult bookstore that police say has been a magnet for public sex acts and other problems in the neighborhood.

The city’s Board of Zoning Appeals voted to limit the operating hours of Le Sex Shoppe on Sherman Way to from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. It has recently been operating from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” said James Bruinsslot, the owner of a nearby print shop who said he expects a “dramatic improvement” in the neighborhood due to the shorter hours.

In addition, the board ordered the business to employ two security guards, one of whom would be armed and would patrol the alleys and streets around the bookstore at night. The owner and the guards were also required to submit monthly reports to the city about the efforts to eliminate the problems.

David Brown, an attorney for Le Sex Shoppe, said the owners of the business have already complied with many other restrictions previously imposed by zoning officials. But he said he was not sure if they would appeal the board’s latest restriction to the City Council.

The board’s decision is the latest chapter in a long and emotional battle between the bookstore--which sells sexually explicit videos and magazines and includes private viewing booths--and neighbors who say the business is a public nuisance.

Police have asked that the city close the business, saying it has attracted problems for nearly a decade.

Responding to such complaints, zoning administrator John Parker imposed 20 conditions on the business last month, including a requirement that the business operate only from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. It had previously been open 24 hours a day.

Los Angeles Police Sgt. Tony Vlaskamp said the business has for years attracted men who “cruise” around the shop, sometimes meeting each other in alleys and nearby parking lots to perform sex acts.

“It’s a real problem,” he said. “I don’t want to underemphasize how big a problem it is.”

Although Vlaskamp suggested that additional security guards might help scare loiterers away from Le Sex Shoppe’s vicinity, he said he doubts anything would completely eliminate the problems.

“I’m not sure what would work, to be honest with you,” he said.

Neighbors and business owners said patrons of the shop also leave trash in nearby alleys and intimidate the customers of nearby businesses, including an adjacent restaurant.

But Brown said the problems around Le Sex Shoppe have diminished since the owners of the business agreed to comply last month with most of Parker’s 20 restrictions, including the shorter hours.

He said the panel did not have any evidence to show that the shorter hours would eliminate the problems and that he thinks the board simply wants to close the business altogether.

“It really sounds like the objective is to close the business,” he said.