Stanton : Judge Refuses to Close Down Adult Bookstore

A Superior Court judge on Friday refused to issue a restraining order that would have stopped the operation of an adult bookstore and movie arcade.

Shop owner Ginger Cox opened the city’s first adult entertainment business, Earmark Books & Video Center, earlier this week over the protests of city officials and several neighbors. In an attempt to close the shop, the city filed suit on Thursday claiming the business is operating in violation of the city’s zoning code.

Roger Jon Diamond, an attorney representing the shop’s owner, argued that the city’s restriction of adult entertainment businesses is overly prohibitive by effectively banning such establishments and is therefore unconstitutional.

Stanton City Atty. Thomas W. Allen disagreed, saying Diamond had “leaped to a number of assumptions” by asserting that the code is excessively restrictive. He said the zoning code permits adult entertainment businesses in certain commercial and industrial areas, and that several such areas exist in Stanton.

In addition to limiting the zones in which such establishments can operate, Stanton’s adult entertainment ordinance prohibits the businesses from opening within 500 feet of a residence, school, church or park.

Commissioner Ronald L. Bauer advised Allen that the city must “demonstrate with more clarity the existence of alternative locations” for the Beach Boulevard establishment.

Bauer cited the court’s usual hesitancy to issue temporary restraining orders and the fact that Cox’s business is not yet fully operational in denying the city’s request.

Another hearing date for the city’s suit was set for April 16.