Trampling Youth Culture With Homogenizing Rules

Huddled in a corner on Mesa Verde Drive East in Costa Mesa, the record store Noise Noise Noise stands with its windows barren of decoration. Drivers and pedestrians who regularly make their way down Harbor Boulevard cannot help but notice the windows, which once were covered with colorful and sometimes hilarious posters.

The posters had been used to advertise unfamiliar bands with names like At the Drive In or the Murder City Devils. They don’t get played on the radio.

Against the backdrop of a cookie-cutter suburban landscape and in an environment where the mom-and-pop music industry has been taken over by corporations such as Tower Records and the Virgin Megastores, Noise Noise Noise is an independently owned institution. In the late afternoons, the store is filled with eager customers of all ages scanning the boxes of records and shelves of CDs for that hard-to-find import.

People dawdle inside to listen and chat about music, regardless of genre, in an environment that can be described only as Californian: mellow, friendly, welcome. It is well-known throughout the independent music industry and supported by its customers, at the same location for 10 years.

Recently, however, a Costa Mesa code enforcement officer cited the store for having more than 10% of the front and side windows covered by “signage.” These signs were the colorful posters.

As a result, the posters were taken down in compliance but replaced in part with cardboard to shield the records from the sun, and e-mails and letters of protest.

Strangely enough, it had taken the officers over a decade to notice any violation of city law, despite the police presence throughout the city. It’s unclear what’s behind the timing of the crackdown, but to many regulars the decision makes no sense.

After years of successful business, Noise Noise Noise thus has been stripped of its personality. The owners are left with only a letter from the city that said the crackdown was part of a “continuing program to preserve and improve [the] residential business community.”

Costa Mesa, by taking an action like this, has only increased dullness in Southern California.

Orange County is a healthy place to raise children and a great place to live overall. The schools are superior; the neighborhoods are safe and the beach is practically around the corner.

Despite these positive things, Orange County lacks a youth artistic culture outside of such institutions as the Performing Arts Center and South Coast Repertory. Cities should be fostering more of a free-spirited art community for young people, not standing in the way.

Furthermore, the established institutions are geared toward a specific type of “mature” art, mostly aimed at older patrons. While the symphony is an honored musical outlet, it lacks a strong youth audience currently enjoyed by mainstream pop bands and the independent music scene. It is a culture that many youths feel alienated from.

Slowly but surely, by issuing code citations to businesses that are a little different, Orange County’s cities creep closer and closer to shaping an environment of uniformity like that of Irvine, losing personality and youth culture in the process.

Even “Surf City,” Huntington Beach, known for its Main Street teen hangout, is attempting to eliminate youth loitering in front of stores that, ironically, are geared toward younger shoppers.

Ideas that range from removing benches to playing classical music have been suggested to discourage young people from enjoying downtown. Cities need strategies that don’t make these young people feel unwelcome.

Despite negative attitudes, Orange County does offer important centers of youth culture. For example, Koo’s Art Cafe in downtown Santa Ana has served as an artistic outlet for years. It has held open-mike poetry nights, helped with community service work for Food Not Bombs, and provided mural space for artists.

Noise Noise Noise’s concern involves much more than a simple business and advertising complaint. Its argument that removing the posters would damage youth culture needs to be taken seriously. This business in its own way is a staple of the community and ought to be respected.

Youth culture does not complicate society. It does not cause a destruction of values, demolish a city’s business community or ruin a city’s reputation. Instead, having a youth culture is itself a way to preserve and improve the community. It must be encouraged to grow and not be stifled.

Daisy Yu of Huntington Beach has just completed her freshman year at Boston University.