Community and Nightclub Owner Clash at Public Hearing

About two dozen North Hollywood residents came to the Van Nuys Civic Center Friday morning to attend a public hearing for a nightclub that has allegedly become a nuisance to the neighborhood, with police reports ranging from theft and battery to illegally serving liquor after hours.

at 4712 Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood currently has zero conditions, allowing the establishment to stay open past 2 a.m. to host dance parties and events that sometimes go past sunrise.

Sr. Lead Officer Rob Benavidez of the LAPD North Hollywood Division recently about his concerns with the club. 

At the hearing Friday, Brittney Wick, manager of Kling Courtyard, an apartment building that shares an alley with the nightclub, said that it’s difficult for her to retain residents. 

Wick brought in a stack of letters from her tenants that could not make the hearing, and read a couple of them to the zoning administrator. In one letter, a resident said that she gave her 30-day notice to leave because of Blue Moon Nights; in another, a resident complained of patrons from the club urinating in the alley and near the building. One incident, that led to a police report, involved patrons of the bar kicking in the glass door to the apartment complex and trying to follow two girls to their unit, according to the letter. 

“It’s a safety matter,” said Wick. “I come there at 8 in the morning and there’s still a line to get into the club.”

Eduardo Hernandez, the owner of Blue Moon Nights, said that it is difficult to find responsible people to work at the club.

Police officers recalled an incident where undercover cops were served liquor after 2 a.m. and told to pour their beverages into water bottles. Eduardo said the bartender responsible for this incident was not following the club’s rules and “stained” their image.

“That was his own wrong decision,” he said. “He got fired because of it.”

Hernandez said that the bartender was fired two months after the event because he wasn’t aware that the man had told the cops to pour alcohol into the water bottles, despite knowing that he had been arrested and given a ticket. He said that communication with the police department hadn’t been clear. 

“We didn’t know back then that an employee had told the cops to pour it into the bottle,” he said. “We found out when we got the report.”

Hernandez said the club has never sold alcohol past 2 a.m., but they offer coffee, energy drinks and water to patrons after that time.

The club has become a popular place for adult entertainment companies to throw parties at. During the hearing, which lasted nearly three hours, the zoning administrator discussed the issues of security, noise control and promoters that hold events at the club, but the main source of contention was the hours of operation.

The owner said that the club opens between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m., because people don’t want to show up to a club before then, and it closes at 6 a.m. On the club’s Web site, it claims that it opens at 9 or 9:30 p.m. on some nights. An event in May said that the club was open until 10 a.m. one Friday night, and the event calendar says that it is open every Wednesday and Sunday until 7 a.m.

The police department’s suggestions for the club included requiring employees to go through a background check (which Hernandez called an “excellent idea”) and wear an identifying badge or uniform, ban any event that involves adult entertainment, restrict patrons from exiting or entering from the back door, and encouraging customers to park on Lankershim Boulevard or a designated parking lot, instead of crowding the residential streets. 

But a suggestion to close the club at 12 a.m. on weeknights and 2 a.m. on weekends didn’t sit well with Hernandez, who wants the establishment to remain open after hours. 

R. Nicolas Brown, associate zoning administrator, said that he liked the suggestion of closing the club at 2 a.m. because it would keep out the clientele that seems to be disrupting the neighborhood.

“What has happened to this site has happened to many sites in Los Angeles,” said Brown. “Things have happened to where they got out of control, so now a certain culture of individual now comes to that site.”

Brown said that he hasn’t made a decision on that suggestion, but it “struck a good cord” with him. A business can go back to extending their hours, however, if there is evidence of compliance and the conditions have mitigated the main problems, he said.

The public comment period for residents that came to voice their opinion on the matter opened up an hour and 40 minutes after the hearing began. Renee Weitzer, chief of land use and planning for Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge, who represents the area, spoke on behalf of residents who had to leave the hearing early and expressed her frustration with the club. 

Hernandez “hasn’t fixed anything from the time that he was confronted by the police,” she said. “He pretends he doesn’t know what’s going on in his bar. What kind of a businessman is that?”

Weitzer agreed with the LAPD’s suggestions to change the operating hours and encourage parking on Lankershim Boulevard, but stressed that the main problem will be solved if the club stops using promoters to lease their space.

“I don’t see that this business can operate with promoters,” she said. “Promoters come in … and they go away, they don’t care what happens to the neighborhood.”

Some residents don’t think that imposing any conditions will solve the issue. Howard Pattow, a resident who lives on Blix Street, wants the club shut down, he told Patch after the hearing, because it doesn't work in the neighborhood. 

“It’s just too wild for our little community of musicians and writers and actors,” he said. “It’s like the Rocky Horror Picture Show come to life.”

The closing date for public comment is July 22, and the zoning administrator could come to a decision as soon as a week later.