A Little Night Music? : Laguna Council May Drop Curtain on Street Performers’ Late Shows

Already in Laguna Beach, it’s illegal to yell, shout, hoot, whistle or sing in public between the hours of 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.--or any other time if it aggravates somebody.

Now, the City Council will rule whether playing a musical instrument on city streets should be added to the list of nocturnal nonos.

Merchants and hoteliers say street musicians who sometimes strum, drum or blow until 3 in the morning are bad for business, said Police Chief Neil J. Purcell Jr., sometimes even causing hotel guests to make a hasty exit.

“When it gets around 11, we’re asking them to please cease and desist,” Purcell said. “Those who don’t are subject to citations.”

But if visitors are fleeing with wads of cotton in their ears, it’s news to those who roamed the downtown streets last weekend. Most said they like the offbeat ambience that street musicians lend to this already quirky city, where on Saturday night a would-be preacher in front of an ice cream store praised Jesus as Hare Krishnas bounced merrily along the sidewalk, shaking tambourines.

“It adds flavor,” said Ying Clark, a saleswoman at Carats & Things. “Everything’s kind of homogenized in Orange County.”

The musicians, not surprisingly, panned the proposed amendment that the council will consider tonight. Knocking off at 11, they said, is a lame idea, especially since musicians in downtown bars play until 2 a.m.

“Last weekend, we jammed all the way up till midnight--congas, guitars,” said Johnny, a flutist who declined to give his last name. “In the summertime, 11 is early. Everybody’s still out on the streets. It’s packed.”

Bill, who also gave one name, said that for 30 years he has played his acoustic guitar “whenever it’s happening” and feels “persecuted” at the prospect of having a curfew. Violators under the proposed amendment could face a $1,000 fine and/or up to six months in jail.

“This is an artists colony,” he said, “and we think of our music as art.”

Some say police have already begun to silence the entertainers. Musicians found downtown Saturday night were not playing, contending police had threatened to ticket them the night before.

Purcell acknowledged that officers on occasion have invoked the current law against disturbing the peace. But before an arrest can be made, a citizen must make a complaint.

The council will consider an ordinance change that would allow an arrest without benefit of a complaint if an officer sees someone playing an instrument from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. But if the musician isn’t bothering anyone, the officer would have discretion not to issue a citation, Purcell said.

Said Purcell: “All I’m doing is adding one thing to an existing ordinance that makes it crystal clear that in addition to yelling, screaming, hollering and whistling, the playing of the musical instrument is included in that. We’re trying to strike a reasonable balance here. I think 11 p.m. is a reasonable time.”

If they want to play longer, Purcell said, musicians should move inside.

However, some of those musicians are street people who don’t have an “inside” to move to.

Resident Dan Dufour said he thinks it’s the street people--not the music itself--that the city is trying to control, an assertion Purcell denies.

“That’s what they’re trying to curb is that situation,” Dufour said. “Businesses shut down between 11 and 7, so [music] can’t be affecting the businesses.”

Rickey Slater, who spends much of his time watching the world go by in downtown Laguna Beach, agreed. He labeled as “ridiculous” the proposed change in the ordinance. “The drunks coming out of the bars make more noise than they do,” he said.

Even professional saxophonist Tim Welch, who plays at the Hotel Laguna, put in a good word for those who make their music on the streets: “Some are good, some aren’t so good, but I think they have a right to play. There are very few places for musicians to play anymore.”

Oran Breeland, a Laguna Hills resident, had another way of looking at it.

“What difference does it make?” he asked. “If they play down here it’s OK. As long as they don’t play in front of my house.”