EDITORIAL: Clock ticking for ‘gay’ part of town

Activists are delighted at the news that a one-year lease extension has been put in place for the Boom Boom Room and Coast Inn, considered historic and irreplaceable for the gay community.

Thousands of signatures have been gathered on a petition asking the City Council to “do something” to permanently save the landmark businesses, which anchor Laguna’s gay-centric neighborhood just south of downtown.

What they hope the City Council could, or would, do is somewhat vague, but hopes are afoot that a “public-private partnership” might result in a permanent solution.

The City Council does have a lot of clout over the types of businesses that may open in the downtown area. Under city codes, only businesses that are not “duplicative” and do not represent harmful competition to existing businesses are allowed in the downtown area, among other restrictions.

But that power — basically “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” on proposed new businesses — only applies in the downtown proper, which does not include the “Boom Boom” part of town.

In order to have some say over individual businesses there, those special provisions, or something similar, would have to be extended to that area. Can you envision a “Gay Specific Zone”?

As for a “public-private partnership,” this would raise yet another set of concerns. Are proponents talking about the city going into the nightclub business?

The other question is whether the city needs an exclusive gay haven. Gone are the days when police had to provide escorts for patrons of the Boom Boom Room and other nightspots so they could safely navigate local streets on foot.

This city, like many others, has grown out of “ghettoization” of the gay community. Being “openly gay” is no longer a shocking way of life. Gay and straight families live side by side with mutual tolerance.

Ironically, the “historic” Boom Boom Room and its aura of the gay elite, such as Rock Hudson, may be more of a relic of the past than its supporters would like to admit.

The one-year lease extension is a relief for Boom supporters, but it might be just the beginning of the end for the landmark establishment.

While exulting that they have managed to stay in place for another year, the business owners say they are now looking for another place to relocate to “in Southern California.”

We would like to see the Boom Boom Room and the “gay” part of town remain for as long as possible, both for historic reasons and to keep a way of life intact. But economic and cultural forces may have different ideas.