Zoning Laws Being Used in War on Bondage Clubs

Acting on complaints from neighbors, West Hollywood and Los Angeles County officials are trying to shut down four bondage and domination clubs that have flourished in the area in recent years.

Sheriff’s Department and zoning enforcement officials describe the clubs as unconventional businesses that cater to clients interested in sadomasochistic sex.

Police have identified as many as seven bondage clubs or services operating within West Hollywood’s borders. Traditional law enforcement operations have met with little success in their attempts to evict the clubs, which police have long characterized as highly specialized prostitution operations.

Community Complaints

Convinced that strict application of zoning laws will prove more successful, city officials and police are now threatening to prosecute the clubs for violating zoning ordinances.

The threats appear to be paying off with at least one club. James Hillier, the owner of the Chateau, in the 500 block of North San Vicente Boulevard, said he plans to relocate.

“These clubs represent business activity in residential neighborhoods,” said West Hollywood City Manager Paul Brotzman. “They’ve generated a substantial number of community complaints.” Neighbors of some of the clubs have complained about the noise and the clientele they attract.

Bob Kincaid, a county zoning enforcement supervisor who is under contract to the city of West Hollywood, said last week that four bondage clubs--the Chateau; Fantasy House, in the 1000 block of Hammond Street; Club O, in the 1000 block of Edinburgh Avenue, and Fantasy Playhouse, also in the 500 block of North San Vicente--are in violation of city zoning laws, a misdemeanor, because they are operating in residential areas.

Kincaid said that the owners were notified of the violation by letter on June 28 and ordered to move. “As far as we know, they haven’t complied,” he said.

Owners Face Charges

Kincaid said the owners face criminal charges if they do not shut down or move their businesses. If they do not comply, the owners face arraignment in Beverly Hills Municipal Court on Aug. 13. If convicted, Kincaid said, they could be fined a maximum of $500 and jailed for up to six months for each day they are in violation of the code. Their businesses could also be closed.

“The city of West Hollywood doesn’t want the penalties,” Kincaid said. “We just want compliance.”

City officials hope the zoning crackdown will be more effective than previous police efforts. In the past, police have had great difficulty obtaining information about the clubs, mainly because undercover investigators were reluctant to administer or receive punishment in order to build cases against the clubs.

If the situation at the Chateau is any indication, police may not have to worry about the majority of West Hollywood’s bondage clubs.

Plans to Move

At the Chateau, which has been at its North San Vicente Boulevard location for more than eight years, owner Hillier said he plans to move, but is unsure where.

He said he would have applied for a conditional-use permit to continue operating but was unable to do so because of West Hollywood’s freeze on building permits. “In effect, the city is putting me out of business,” he said.

Although Hillier said he expects to avoid criminal charges by shutting down the Chateau, he said he might take the city to court.

“I’m conferring with my attorneys,” he said. “It seems to me that the city of West Hollywood isn’t being as fair or as liberal as they’re trying to make people believe.”

Hillier has claimed that his club has a membership of 4,500. In a 1983 interview, he took a reporter on a tour of the shag-carpeted Chateau, showing off a two-story building equipped with mirrors, whipping posts, wooden crosses and pillories.

Neighbors said the paraphernalia has been used for more than decoration. Dave Love, a film set designer who lives across the street, said that on numerous occasions over recent years, he has been able to peer into the club’s windows and watch clients give and receive punishment.

“It was beyond belief,” Love said. “For a while, they didn’t have any air conditioning, so they would slide open the big glass windows on their second floor to get ventilation. I could look in there and see women tied up and struggling. You could hear the whippings at any time of day.”

Love said that during one meeting between neighbors and police, sheriff’s officials said that the number of clubs had given West Hollywood the reputation among cognoscenti of sadomasochism as “the bondage capital of the world.”

Lost Sleep

Irena Trutnik, who also lives across the street from the Chateau, said she lost sleep at night, listening to anguished moans coming from the club. “We hear lashings, screaming,” she said. “There were always undesirables in the neighborhood. They’d park right in my driveway.”

Hillier admits that people have been tied up in the club, but adds that clients are tied up only at their request. “We’re a service organization,” he said, “Everything is voluntary. We feel the club has therapeutic value to people.”

Responding to complaints about his clientele and the screaming, Hillier said, “There was a period when I was running my club in San Francisco and I had to rely on my manager down here. I’m running the place now.”

Hillier said that a number of his former employees are responsible for setting up some of the other bondage and domination clubs in the West Hollywood area. Hillier said he assumes the clubs have remained in West Hollywood “to give me competition.”

He added that West Hollywood should not be considered the bondage and domination capital of the world. “Go to Hamburg or Cologne or Amsterdam,” he said. “We’re a drop in the bucket compared to them.”