Nightclub to Keep Its ‘Exclusive’ Entry Rule

A trendy downtown Los Angeles nightclub will continue its exclusive admission policy while it appeals a judge’s order to abandon the practice, a lawyer for the club said Monday.

Administrative Law Judge Milford A. Maron found Vertigo in violation of the state’s civil rights law by applying “nebulous criteria” in selecting whom to admit from those waiting in line.

The club’s admission policy is “nothing more than a smoke screen for blatant discriminatory behavior,” Maron said.

Attorney Joshua Kaplan, who represented the club, said the ruling would be appealed.

“We deem this no more than a momentary setback for commercial freedom,” he said.

Pending the appeal, the club’s admittance policy will remain in effect, Kaplan said.

The “nebulous criteria” listed by the judge included fashion or style of dress, community position or standing, acquaintance with management or, in the case of women, whether they are single.

In a ruling issued June 12, but not made public until recently, Maron found the club, in business for six years, arbitrarily discriminated against the general public and “clearly . . . discriminates against single men.”

Maron said Vertigo’s owners “have shrewdly developed a demand on the part of the public to attend its public premises (and) restrict attendance by means of what they term a ‘priority admissions policy.’

“(That) policy is nothing more than a smoke screen for blatant discriminatory behavior, with an awesome potential for abuse; a veritable ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing.’ ”

Maron’s ruling was made public Friday by the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, which had moved to revoke Vertigo’s liquor license because of alleged violations of the state’s civil rights law.

The judge revoked the license, but stayed his order while placing the club on one year’s probation. During that time, he ordered the club to come up with a written non-discrimination policy and to stop discriminating against its patrons.

The judge acknowledged the constitutional rights of an establishment to promote a business where people come to “dine, imbibe and to ‘see and be seen.’ ”

However, he said, when the nightclub at 333 S. Boylston St. accepted its state liquor license, it also accepted an obligation to admit the general public.

During a two-day hearing, Kaplan had argued that the club has a right to choose customers who are “fashionable, interestingly dressed.” He said the civil rights law bans specific types of discrimination, such as that based on race, gender, disability or religion.

The state countered that the law bans all types of discrimination against any groups or individuals.

Earlier this year, a Los Angeles Municipal Court commissioner ordered The Mayan, another downtown club, to pay a small-claims judgement of $1,112 for refusing to admit four patrons without reason. That decision, however, did not include an order to stop the admissions policy.