Group Opposes Plans for Hostess Club

Plans to open a hostess dance club on Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles next spring are pitting the future owner against a business organization and several city officials.

Bill McClellan, owner of another downtown hostess dance club called L.A. Grand Club, has applied for permits to build Club Mirage at 528 S. Spring St., the former location of Erwin’s Restaurant.

A hearing before the city’s planning and zoning department on a conditional use permit will be held Monday.

The new club would operate like McClellan’s other one: Men would pay a $5 admission fee and then “check out” a woman for 35 cents a minute for dancing or simply sitting and talking. Hours would be from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. and the women employees would not be allowed to leave until closing, he said.

The environment is one “where men come and they dance and talk with girls. There is no sex involved. No dating customers. No nudity. No alcohol. It’s more related to like USO clubs,” McClellan said.

But the Spring Street Assn., a group that of business owners that is trying to revitalize the historic corridor, opposes the club.

“The public already views this area as being crime-ridden and vice-laden. A hostess dance/ pool hall will confirm this,” said Sheryl Wilson, president of the group.

City Council members Rita Walters and Richard Alatorre have also come out against the club.

But McClellan contends that opening Club Mirage would actually bring more people to downtown at night.

“You don’t see regular citizens walking at night on Spring Street [now]. We believe that having a club there will bring some activity to the street,” McClellan said.