All white commission in allegedly tolerant City of West Hollywood threatens closure of famous club for predominatley minority transgenders, youths & lesbians
errorALL WHITE WEST HOLLYWOOD COMMISSION VOTES TO CLOSE NIGHTCLUB RENOWNED FOR MULTI-CULTURAL TRANSGENDERS, YOUTH AND LESBIANS By Carolina Charm Pressured by about two dozen sign carrying residents, one of whom characterized patrons of Club 7969 as “trash from East and South Central LA”, the all white West Hollywood, California Business License Commission voted unanimously on October 23 to revoke the 40 year old club’s operating licenses. The five commissioners, all of whom except the chairperson are male, were unmoved by the pleas of mostly non-white patrons and employees of the renowned Santa Monica Boulevard club. These included the famous entertainer Ru Paul, who stated “This world class entertainment spot is being singled out for reasons not being stated here – racism and prejudice against life-style diversity”. Indeed, diversity was one of the reasons that the city of West Hollywood was founded about two decades ago, Robert Mundey, one of the leaders of that incorporation movement, pointed out at the commission’s 3 ½ hour public meeting Tuesday. West Hollywood is generally considered the most gay-friendly city in Southern California.
In accord with that concept of multiculturalism, the club, formerly known as “Peanuts”, has, since incorporation, presented theme nights for transgenders, lesbians, youth and fetish lovers. Club 7969’s Monday and Friday night drag shows have become a central meeting place for Los Angeles area’s vibrant “trans” community, estimated to be one of the world’s largest. Most of these patrons are Hispanic and Asian Pacific.
Residents of the neighboring side streets, complaining of noise and traffic, expressed often ugly opinions. “Club 7969’s customers are garbage, trash. They don’t live here; they come from places like East and South Central LA. They cause my rents to be lower”, complained Bob Alexander, who claimed to own “a small interest” in apartments abutting the back of the club.
The demurrers of the Club’s owner, attorney, employees and patrons that much of the noise and traffic emanates from neighboring clubs and restaurants, some of which stay open well past the 2 am closing of 7969, fell on deaf ears of the white commissioners.
Members such as Rodney Scott, whose close cropped hair and business attire contrasted sharply with the cut and garb of most patrons, kept emphasizing minor complaints, many as old as 1994, such as doors being left open. Several after hours bars and restaurants adjacent to and within a few block s habitually keep their doors open, and even provide outside tables, for crowds of mostly white male customers. The mostly Anglo residents attending Tuesday’s meeting, however, blamed 7969 for all nuisance problems.
Public access cable TV host Mark Heineman was so enraged by their rhetoric that he walked out after stating, “I’m ashamed of West Hollywood. House of Blues Café on Sunset [inside city limits] generates 20 times as much noise and traffic as Club 7969, but you leave it alone because its mainstream. You’re scapegoating transgenders, just as you did last summer.” [At a July 31 community meeting the City provided an interpreter for Russian speaking residents, but not for Spanish-speaking transgenders.]
Steve Goldberg, whose family has operated the club at the same location for forty years, emphasized that most city citations ended in 1994 when he took over, and that remodeling after a 1999 fire had reduced noise escaping from the disco sound system. He offered to meet with the neighbors regularly and even to soundproof and air-condition their apartments.
The local “Neighborhood Watch”, lead by a blonde woman, Britt Sands, discouraged residents from accepting the club’s invitation to meet. “Talking with them now won’t change anything. We’ve met in the past and things have only become worse. I don’t care if their customers are transvestite, gay or whatever. They keep disturbing our sleep at 2 am ”, she said. No city official suggested allowing the club to stay open after 2 am, as the men’s clubs and French Quarter Restaurant do, which might diffuse crowds all leaving at one time. Chairperson Maxine Sonneberg did suggest forcing it to close at midnight, which effectively would exclude the nocturnal transgenders and transsexuals, whose shows start at that time.
Patrons were never informed of these neighborhood meetings, some of which were held as long as a year ago.
Management is expected to appeal to the City Council, which will delay the closure, at least temporarily.
After the meeting adjourned at 10 p.m., the valet lot at Club 7969 was overflowing as usual for the regular Tuesday night lesbian strip show, but if the City Council doesn’t reverse its commission’s decision, this lot may soon be empty every night.
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