Developer Scratches Plans for Pool Hall Next to High School

A Torrance developer has withdrawn plans to build the nation’s largest pool hall next to Hawthorne High School, apparently ending a heated battle with parents and officials at the Centinela Valley Union High School District.

The developer, Jerry Jamgotchian president of Equity West Development Co., said in an interview Thursday that he has canceled plans for a 25,000-square-foot, 56-table pool hall in a vacant building on the 5100 block of El Segundo Boulevard.

Instead, he said, Treasure Hunt Inc. of Vernon will develop a bargain department store in the building.

The proposed pool hall had been vehemently opposed at school board and city Planning Commission meetings by parents, school officials and representatives of a local church. They said the pool hall would have attracted gangs, prostitution and drugs to the area.

Jamgotchian had the necessary permits to develop the pool hall and had planned a grand opening for November. On Oct. 4 he was scheduled to go before the Planning Commission to request a liquor license.

He said his decision Wednesday to withdraw his plans for a pool hall were based on business reasons, which he declined to specify. But he added that his decision was also “in the best interest of the community.”

Board member Ann Birdsall, who said she was concerned that students might be served liquor at the pool hall, said she is elated that Jamgotchian has withdrawn his plan. She credited pressure by parents and school officials for persuading Jamgotchian to make the decision.

“I do think the people had a lot to do with it,” she said.

District Supt. McKinley M. Nash, who has said the pool hall would have established an “undesirable educational climate,” said in an interview Thursday that he is happy with Jamgotchian’s decision.

“The people of Hawthorne of all races have rallied around the support of a just cause,” he said.

Nash added, however, that he resents having had to take time away from his job to battle the developer and said he is going to recommend to State Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig that a state law be proposed to prohibit the sale of liquor near schools.

“We should not have to engage in community activism,” he said.

The Rev. Earl Thornton of the Delaire Assembly of God Church in Hawthorne, who opposed the pool hall because he said it would attract the “less-than-best type of people” to the area, said he was pleased by the news.

“I don’t see how that was going to be a service to our area,” Thornton said, adding that he would prefer that Jamgotchian build a youth center on the site.

Stennis Floyd, a longtime resident whose son graduated from Hawthorne High School last year and who adamantly opposed the pool hall, remained skeptical.

Floyd said he does not think a bargain department store will be feasible in that building and that he questions Jamgotchian’s sincerity.

“I don’t trust the guy at all,” he said.

Despite the opposition he aroused, Jamgotchian said he still plans to build a pool hall elsewhere in the area. He said he could not disclose the location until the purchase of the property is finalized.

“I tell you,” he said, “I’m going to build a billiard center in the South Bay because the need is there.”