SANTA FE SPRINGS, CA – Officials have deferred taking action on a local strip club owner’s failure to stop adult entertainment activities at his business.
City Manager Fred Latham said council members decided in a closed session last month to take more time on the matter, saying they would like to research their options “prior to enforcing a cease-and-desist order” against Edwin Kwong.
Kwong, owner of Spicy Gentlemen’s Club on Slauson Avenue, in August was served with an order to immediately put a halt to his restaurant-turned-strip club. But nothing has changed at the business, according to Kwong’s attorney.
“We haven’t ignored the cease-and-desist order,” said Roger Diamond, [pictured] a well-known attorney for adult business operators. “We read it very carefully … we don’t think it’s correct.”
Spicy’s has been a contentious issue since the adult business opened in Santa Fe Springs early August.
Community church members have met with the Planning Commission to express their opposition to an ordinance that could make churches and strip clubs neighbors in Santa Fe Springs.
A Supreme Court ruling leaves it to each city’s discretion to keep or remove setback requirements from community churches. Planning commissioners put off the proposal until Oct. 9.
In the meantime, the issue with Spicy’s centers on how it managed to open its business in Santa Fe Springs to begin with.
City officials insist Kwong misrepresented himself when he applied for permits for Spicy’s, sans the words “gentlemen’s club.” They say Spicy’s has been operating as a strip club-type cabaret in a non-commercial zone.
Diamond has consistently said the city’s zoning codes are “unconstitutional.” It is Kwong’s First Amendment right to include live adult entertainment at his restaurant if he’s not given another site in which he could open an adult business, he added.
Meanwhile, the city has hired attorney Deborah Fox, who specializes in First Amendment and adult entertainment businesses litigations, to work with City Council members.
Fox could not be reached for comment.
Officials contend that the issue with Spicy’s has nothing to do with housing adult businesses in Santa Fe Springs. The city already has the Holiday strip club on Norwalk Boulevard.
“The position we’ve taken is that they’re located in an inappropriate zone,” Latham said.
The city manager added that city officials are now exploring their options regarding Spicy’s. He declined further details, citing closed-session confidentiality.
“Most importantly, it’s for them to understand the options the city will have to act legally and appropriately in responding to this business coming in to our city,” Latham said.
Enforcing the cease-and-desist order will be discussed again at the next City Council meeting on Oct. 12.