Strip clubs baring knuckles in fight to keep status quo.

To city officials and community activists, L.A.'s legion of strip clubs and adult video arcades are a magnet for prostitution, lewd sex and drug usage.

To the adult entertainment industry, its opponents are alarmists who should be focusing on more serious issues.

Both sides are about to lock their legal horns over an ordinance making its way through the L.A. City Council that would place stringent restrictions on lap dancing in strip clubs and force greater self-policing at video arcades.

Strip clubs would bear the most drastic changes.

"There's a chance that some of the clubs would be forced to close," said Oliver, the owner of 4-Play, who refused to give his last name. "It's kind of like telling a bar owner you can keep your bar open but you can't sell alcohol anymore."

The ordinance, which passed the council's public safety committee on June 9 and is expected to go to a full vote June 18 or 20, has put the spotlight on the adult entertainment industry.

Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, chairwoman of the public safety committee, originally directed the city attorney's office to draft the ordinance in 1999 after community leaders decried the opening of several new strip joints in her Westside district within a short period of time.

According to the city attorney's office, three more such clubs have opened in the 18 months.

The matter took so long to reach this stage because lawmakers, upon first examining the existing ordinance, decided the entire process of issuing permits to adult entertainment businesses needed an overhaul.

"A lot of (strip clubs) are right on the border of residential neighborhoods so you have kids walking to school across the street from them," said Adena Tessler, legislative deputy for Miscikowski. "That becomes a problem."

Obstructed view

One benefit city officials hope to gain from the ordinance is a better understanding of how the adult entertainment business works.

Many club owners have a single operation, while a handful of others have multiple units, such as Spearmint Rhino and Deja Vu. "There are a few groups who each have ownership interests in a large number of adult clubs," said Lt. Debra Kirk, commanding officer of the Police Commission's regulatory arm.

The clubs frequently change names and locations. Some operations offer different forms of adult entertainment on different nights, using different club names while remaining under the same roof.

And the city's existing Cafe, Entertainment and Shows permits don't distinguish between adult and non-adult businesses, making it hard for law enforcement personnel to keep up with industry trends.

"It's difficult to track down who the real owners are," said Asha Greenberg, deputy city attorney and supervisor of the citywide nuisance abatement program.

There is even some question as to whether the number of strip clubs and arcades has grown over the past few years. The city attorney's office estimates that 190 to 210 permitted adult businesses exist at any given time and that those numbers have remained relatively steady over the past few years.

But law enforcement officers said the numbers appear to be rising.

"Anecdotally, it would appear there are more adult clubs than there used to be," said Kirk. "Certainly one of the benefits of the ordinance is that we'll be able to keep better track on the concentration of adult businesses in the city."

Private meetings

What irks officials most about strip joints are the back rooms, sometimes called "VIP" or "private" rooms, where police allege some women solicit money for quick sex.

The ordinance would mandate that dancers and customers remain at least six feet apart and prohibit the use of back rooms and so-called "touch tipping," which involves slipping bills into G-strings. The measure would effectively outlaw lap dancing.

Clubs would also have to hire security guards to help managers ensure that customers are complying with regulations.

Strip club owners and dancers contend that the proposed ordinance casts too wide a net, lumping all forms of adult entertainment under one banner.

"The city is seemingly justifying its regulations on activities inside the live entertainment establishments on the basis of some citizen complaints about alleged patron activity outside arcades," said John Weston, an attorney with Weston Garrou & DeWitt who represents 20 strip clubs preparing to battle the ordinance. "The city is saying, 'We're having problems with one type of business so we're going to close down another."'

While undercover vice units make periodic arrests of dancers soliciting money for sex, police acknowledge that video arcades are far more of a public nuisance and public health concern.

For their part, the dancers describe themselves as single mothers and/or students who work at these clubs to pay for living and school expenses. Some hold full-time jobs and strip to supplement their income.

"People think we're whores or prostitutes," said a dancer at 4-Play who goes by the stage name Raven. "That's a misconception."

Patrons pay $20 to $25 for a back-room lap dance, which the women said only entails touching of the shoulders and running fingers through patrons' hair. Dancers make additional tips onstage, but most of the $60 to $600 per shift most comes from lap dances.

If lap dancing were banned, they say they would not make enough money to stay in business.

"If this club is closed, some of us will have to go to welfare," said Tai Yamamoto, who dances by the stage name Micki. 'This job got me through school."

Arcade nuisance

The arcades, which sell pornographic videos and magazines, as well as sex toys, are notorious for turning a blind eye to customers performing sexual acts inside viewing booths or outside the building, and leaving used condoms and drug paraphernalia lying around, according to police.

Customers also use the arcades as a meeting place before cruising into nearby neighbor-hoods, parking their cars and performing sexual acts in the vehicles or on residents' lawns and bushes, police said.

"Many of these bookstores have long had an adverse impact on surrounding residential communities," said LAPD Capt. Kris Pitcher, who works out of the Foothill division in Pacoima. "(The ordinance) will require owners and their staff to act in a more responsible manner regarding their business operations."

In the last three years, police have arrested at least 115 patrons on the premises of North Hollywood-based Big Apple and 85 patrons of Mission Hills-based Talk of the Valley on lewd conduct charges, according to Greenberg.

Pitcher said her office obtained preliminary injunctions in L.A. County Superior Court against both places last year to mandate they hire security guards and have a manager on the premises during operating hours. The injunction also prohibits areas of the viewing booths where customers can have sexual contact.

The injunction is under appeal.

"The preliminary injunction violates the right of free speech that's in both the First Amendment and the California Constitution," said Clyde DeWitt, who represents Whitey Inc., which owns the Big Apple. "It was wrongly issued."

Roger Diamond, a Santa Monica attorney representing Talk of the Valley, said he will ask the California Court of Appeals this week to throw out the city attorney's case because the city zoning administrator is already pursuing the same case.

"I'm trying to get them to knock each other out and then they will have to start over," said Diamond, who also represents 25 strip clubs in their battle with the city. "We can't settle with a two-headed monster here."