Club Invites Officials to See Disputed Show

The owner of the Metro Nite Club invited Ventura officials to see the club’s weekly bondage show so they can judge for themselves whether it violates a city ordinance banning adult businesses downtown.

“I appreciate your concern,” owner Michael Avrea wrote in response to a city inquiry. “However, I don’t understand the specific part of the code you feel we are violating. . . . I urge you to come see for yourself.”

For four months, entertainers have performed a show called “Bondage, Fetish and Hot Wax” at the club, 317 E. Main St., on Wednesday nights.

Last week, Mark Stephens, a senior city planner, sent a letter to Avrea along with a copy of the city’s adult-oriented business regulations. Those regulations ban certain kinds of adult-oriented business in a redevelopment district.

The letter asked that Avrea cease doing anything illegal, or explain why the bondage and fetish activities are permissible.

Avrea explains: “We have a changing society, preparing to enter a new century. Body piercing and tattooing are the craze. Television shows, (MTV, etc.), concerts and nightclubs across the country have featured this type of entertainment. We are simply delivering an entertainment the public is interested in without exploiting anyone. . . .”

He adds that if city officials could see the show--and he is willing to let them in for free--they would find that this entertainment is “not in the spirit of the practices city leaders are trying to curb with code restrictions.”

Stephens, who drafted the city’s letter, could not be reached for comment.

Assistant City Atty. Jim Neuerburg said he has not yet seen the show, but that the issue is not the spirit of the codes.

“This gets down to a factual evaluation of what is going on,” he said. “We’ll have to figure out how to make a sufficient judgment. Whether that entails people from the city going to view the show, I don’t know.”

He said it might be possible to rely on third-person accounts.