LITTLE TOKYO : Dance Club’s Permit at Stake

A commission administrator has a month to recommend whether the Los Angeles Police Commission should revoke the dance hall permit of a 2nd Street nightclub that reportedly has drawn hundreds of rowdy young people to the area over the last year, causing headaches for local merchants and police officers.

LaLagune, at 320 E. 2nd St., is charged with 24 counts of overcrowding, serving alcohol to minors, and other city and state code violations.

The club has been the site of various arrests and citations since March, 1991, said Iris Martin, a staff advocate for the commission.

Neighboring merchants have complained that rowdy club-goers litter the area with beer bottles, urinate in mailboxes and etch graffiti on the windows of their businesses. Restaurant owners say loitering youths scare away customers, forcing the eateries to close early.

“I can’t work late anymore because I’m afraid,” said Chris Naito, whose auto leasing office is in a building next to LaLagune.

“The kids are destroying the atmosphere of Little Tokyo,” said Pat Seki, vice president of the Little Tokyo Business Assn.

LaLagune owner James Tso purchased the second-story restaurant in the fall of 1990 with plans to turn it into an upscale Chinese restaurant with dancing at night. But Tso said he closed the restaurant due to lack of business and kept only the nightclub going, with dancing until 2 a.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Tso said he has met with community members and police and tried to solve the problems. He said he hired extra security guards and directed his busboys to clean up the litter in the area.

The club owner said he has also tried to draw an older clientele with salsa dances over the last three months, but those haven’t been as successful. “(Older) people are afraid to come because of the homeless here,” he said.

Tso, who owned a nightclub for five years in the Beverly Center, said he is a victim of police harassment and community prejudice.

Police officers testified during a hearing that they visited LaLagune nightly, both undercover and in uniform, to check on the business. Tso said the visits were excessive and unfair. “At my other business, only once or twice the police came in . . . maybe once a year,” Tso said.