South Bay : NIGHTCLUB SUIT

The owners of a Wilmington nightclub filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against the city of Los Angeles, claiming officials are violating their 1st Amendment rights by barring them from presenting nude dancers.

Qudill Inc., which operates Legs Gentlemen’s Club at 340 Broad Ave., filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. The owners say that even though they have all the necessary permits to present nude dancing, city officials entered the cabaret during their Nov. 30 opening and ordered the dancers to put on clothes.

“It’s incredible how much they’ve hurt business,” Paul Ross, spokesman for Qudill, said Thursday. The women have been dancing with bikinis since the opening, he said, which has drawn fewer patrons.

Los Angeles officials familiar with the case could not be reached for comment.

But Gertrude Schwab, president of the Wilmington North Neighborhood Assn., said, “What about our 1st Amendment right? We’re a low-income, minority community, and it seems like anything that’s negative is brought into this community and it takes two years to get rid of it.” . . .