Show at Chippendales to Go On--Temporarily

The show will go on temporarily at Chippendales, a Superior Court judge ruled Friday when he postponed Los Angeles Fire Department plans to close the popular Westside nightclub featuring male strippers.

The Los Angeles Board of Fire Commissioners on Thursday upheld the department’s decision to revoke Chippendales’ permit because of repeated overcrowding. The action threatened to shut down the club for good before its Friday night show.

An attorney for the club asked the judge to block the shutdown while a lawsuit opposing the fire commissioners’ ruling is pending. Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Leonard S. Wolf, citing the resulting unemployment and permanent financial damage that closing the club would cause, rejected the city’s request to deny the stay.

Deputy City Atty. Donna Jones argued that keeping the establishment open could lead to loss of life.

“The public is at risk,” she said. “All Chippendales cares about is money. They don’t care about the people of Los Angeles.”

The Fire Department has cited the club 14 times in five years for exceeding its occupancy limit of 299.

In the last three violations, dated May 9 and Oct. 10, 1987, and Jan. 10, 1988, the club exceeded its limit by 62, 100 and 78 people, respectively, Jones said.

Kevin McLean, attorney for club owner Steve Banerjee, said that because there have only been three citations in the last two years since the Fire Department began regular weekend inspections, that proves that the club was working to comply with the law.

But not all will be back to normal at Chippendales while the club’s appeal, scheduled to be heard Aug. 29, is pending. Wolf granted the stay on the condition that the club’s disco, which opened nightly after the all-male exotic dance shows, would not be allowed to operate.

He also ruled that city fire inspectors could shut down the club on only four hours’ notice if they find new Fire Code violations.

To prevent further overcrowding violations, club spokesman Dan Escamilla said the club will stop admitting patrons when the crowd gets within 5% of the 299 limit and two staff members will be stationed at the door to keep count. He said video cameras will also be installed to photograph the size of the audience.