House of Headaches : Restrictions Recommended on Popular Blues Club After Complaints

Business at the House of Blues is booming these days. In less than 18 months, the juke joint on the Sunset Strip has become one of music’s trendiest hot spots, not to mention a watering hole for celebrities such as Dan Aykroyd, an early investor.

But some West Hollywood officials are calling the nightclub too much of a good thing. The city’s Planning Commission has declared the House of Blues a nuisance, a curious designation in a city that has long been synonymous with loud rock clubs from the Viper Room to the Whiskey A Go-Go.

The commission--responding to residents’ complaints about noise, traffic, parking and crime--has recommended that the City Council slap tough restrictions on the club. Among the most contentious are plans to require hundreds of extra parking spaces and to cap the occupancy at 999, even though the building can accommodate nearly 1,350 people.

An attorney representing the House of Blues called the nuisance label excessive, and said the occupancy limit could cause the club to lose money and possibly move out of the city.

The club already has met more than 100 conditions laid down by the city and successfully addressed most neighborhood concerns, its operators say. Among other things, the club has enclosed an outdoor dining area that was generating complaints about noise, arranged for additional parking space to keep cars off nearby streets and switched valet services in an effort to ensure quiet at night.

Many residents credit the club’s efforts with reducing the varied problems, adding to the club’s contention that further restrictions are unnecessary.

Club operators hope to convince the city of the same. On Oct. 2, they will ask the City Council to reject the Planning Commission’s restrictions on their operation, which generates more than $100,000 a year in sales taxes, placing it in the top 10 businesses in West Hollywood.

“The bottom line is that the House of Blues has brought in a lot of business and publicity to the city,” said Mark Lehman, the nightclub’s attorney. “If it’s working, why mess with it?”

Such problems are nothing new to the Sunset Strip, a neon-splashed boulevard that for decades has served as a stomping ground for rockers, movie stars and fans.

Many still remember when Jim Morrison and the Doors were booted from the Whiskey A Go-Go in 1966 for Morrison’s inflammatory lyrics.

Those who live in the neighborhoods along the Strip have little patience for the inconveniences that accompany a robust night life.

They have long complained about traffic snarls, unruly club patrons and cars racing up and down their residential streets.

“I pray to God I don’t have an emergency when all this nightclub traffic is backed up on Sunset,” said Bettie Wagner, who lives just north of the Strip, within blocks of several clubs, including the House of Blues.

But problems at other clubs, residents say, pale in comparison to the trouble that surfaced when the House of Blues opened its doors in April, 1994.

Hordes of music lovers began turning up at the nightclub and its restaurant and gift shop--a 29,555-square-foot complex nearly twice the size of the next largest club on the Strip. Soon after, residents began lodging protests with the club and the city, citing noise from valets late at night, trash strewn in the neighborhood and cars that were being vandalized. And then there was the issue of patrons and employees snatching precious parking spaces in the surrounding neighborhoods.

City officials say they failed to mandate enough parking spaces because of a flaw in the planning process: the officials based their parking figures on square footage rather than on occupancy--a method that would lead to problems as the club began to attract sell-out crowds.

“There was a lot of excitement about the House of Blues coming into West Hollywood,” recalled James Litz, chairman of the Planning Commission.

“I think in all of our excitement maybe we overlooked specifics [such as] how many people were going to be there, how they were going to park their cars and how they were going to get their cars from one location to another.”

City officials concede that they added to the trouble by allowing the club to open without finishing its parking lot. The officials said they were eager to bring the high-profile venue into the city because of the publicity and the revenue it would generate.

House of Blues nightclubs--brainchild of Los Angeles businessman Isaac Tigrett, co-founder of the Hard Rock Cafe chain--already had proven successful in New Orleans and Cambridge, Mass.

“We looked at this as an opportunity to put the city on the map with the entertainment community,” said Councilman Paul Koretz. “I don’t think anybody anticipated the problems.”

The parking issues raised with the House of Blues have prompted officials to consider new regulations for nightclub parking throughout the city.

The City Council on Monday will hold a public hearing on plans that, among other things, will tie the amount of required parking to the occupancy of new nightclubs.

Yet even as they consider the tougher regulations, some city leaders are taking a conciliatory approach toward the House of Blues.

City Council members have begun to distance themselves from the Planning Commission’s nuisance label, saying the club has made great progress in addressing the various issues. Some council members are even applauding the club for its efforts to work with the community at monthly meetings, and say that complaints have dropped considerably.

“Things have gotten much better from when we initially dealt with a whole series of complaints,” said Councilwoman Abbe Land, who lives about 1 1/2 blocks from the nightclub. “There are still nights when things aren’t perfect. There still needs to be some fine tuning.”

The council members, wary of sending a downbeat message to the city’s businesses, said they hope to reach a compromise that will address residents’ concerns while still allowing the nightclub to prosper.

“The House of Blues is a great thing to have in West Hollywood,” said Mayor John Heilman.

“They’re drawing people to the city, providing jobs. It’s certainly not a business we want to lose.”