Council Upholds Planners’ Vote to Revoke Permits for Problem-Plagued Nightclub

They’ve sounded last call at the Stargate nightclub, the troubled watering hole that was a haven for violent hoods and gang members, according to police.

After a six-hour hearing held in quasi-judicial fashion, the Thousand Oaks City Council voted 4 to 0 early Wednesday to uphold a decision by the Planning Commission to revoke the club’s permits for drinking and dancing. Councilwoman Elois Zeanah was absent.

It was the first time in Thousand Oaks history that the city had yanked a club’s permits.

“This has definitely been a problem,” Councilwoman Judy Lazar said. “The whole location has been a problem. I don’t think this community needs to tolerate this any longer.”

Representatives of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control and neighbors of the Stargate all painted a picture of the Hillcrest Drive club as a seedy, out-of-control place where anything went and punches were always flying.

“When I’m in one part of the building, fights break out in another part of the building,” Sgt. Claude Robillard said.

Moreover, police said the violence at the Stargate appeared to be escalating, with bigger brawls, more stabbings and even some shots fired. The club’s bouncers were starting as many fights as they were breaking up, police said. And the owner, 29-year-old Emre Sarihan, was obstructing police, shouting obscenities and telling his employees not to talk to deputies.

“Being in the profession I’m in, I know the next time [a deputy goes] out there, it could be a homicide,” said Councilman Mike Markey, a Compton detective.

Attorney Chuck Cohen, who represented Sarihan, acknowledged the Stargate had some problems. But he argued that his client was immature and should be given a chance to try to manage the club more cleanly under a new business plan he had developed.

Sarihan, however, offered a different account to the council. He said his establishment had been unfairly picked on by police, that there was a much smaller gang problem at the club than police had described and that his bouncers were not hungry for fights.

“I believe this has been a big miscommunication,” Sarihan said.

When Sarihan said gang members are often hard to detect because they sometimes dress up, Mayor Andy Fox interrupted:

“I know a little bit about gang members, and they don’t wear suits and ties.”

Ed Macias of the ABC said his agency was investigating the Stargate for five different alleged violations, including drinking by a 19-year-old woman and an incident in which male exotic dancers were grinding away in less-than-appropriate clothing during a bachelorette party.

By the hearing’s end--about 1 a.m. Wednesday--council members said the evidence against the Stargate was too strong for the problems to be a fluke. They expressed concern for the club’s 75 to 80 employees, but said some things just don’t belong in Thousand Oaks.

“The community would be waiting for another serious incident to occur [if the city kept the Stargate open],” Fox said. “It would just be a matter of time.”