city shuts down "sex palace"

[JustAskJulie]

Officials in Orange County have shut down an 8,000 square foot photography studio because they say it was being used as a "sex party palace."

City Shuts Down "Sex Palace" | News | KTLA The CW | Where Los Angeles Lives

[two42lovers]

We went to Amnesty for the first time last March - it was pretty nice, and well run. We got an email a few weeks ago saying the city had suddenly forbidden them to allow members to bring alcohol. They sent out an email last week saying they decided to close the club, but planned to re-open next year in a new location.

[two4youinswva]

Follow-up Story with reader feedback and poll results.

47% said they were cool with the club being in town.

[Tom & Bonnie]

Amnesty Club Owners did themselves in by not applying for the proper city license. You cannot apply for a license as one thing and do another....

[two42lovers]

Not sure why you think they didn't apply for the "proper license". The newspaper article is clueless. The city didn't "shut them down" as far as we know. (The city can't. They did nothing wrong. The issue is telling members they can't bring alcohol onto the premises.)

Amnesty's space was too small for the crowds they were attracting. They had been thinking about moving, and decided not to play games with the city - instead they decided to move the tax their revenue to another location.

Fact is, there is no "proper" license. The city of Orange would do anything it could to discourage ANY sex related business. (After all, sex beyond what is condoned by the city's version of religion is evil.) They don't want sex related businesses, and will do anything they can get away with to hinder in any way they can. Knowing this is the case, we choose not to do any business in Orange - we'll spend our money elsewhere. We're sure this suits them fine, so it's "win-win".

[Tom & Bonnie]

Ummm, I believe the "real" problem was that the owners of Amnesty applied for a license as a nude modeling & photography studio with no admission fees and when inspectors stopped in and failed to find any photography equipment in the house and instead a club with bondage equipment questions were asked...

So did you read the city's letter to Amnesty, did you see a copy of their license application? I did...

Or do you have any evidence to the contrary?

[Tom & Bonnie]

Here is a pdf link to a copy of the actual letter sent to the owners of Amnesty by the city attorney.

http://www.ocregister.com/newsimages.../orgletter.pdf

Here is a link to a copy of the application made by the club owners to obtain their license.

http://www.ocregister.com/newsimages...pplication.pdf

Take a look and tell me I'm mistaken.

[two42lovers]

Thanks for the info. Read the links. Interesting.

Have to say it still looks like there is no real way to get a "proper license". Seems the rules are made in such a way as to make it impossible. Note how members doing a strip tease dance is not allowed, how all rooms must be monitored from a manager's station, the issues about alcohol, etc. We also note how they are saying the list is not exhaustive, and includes a threat of prosecution even if they attempt to correct the so-called violations. Our guess is this is a case of selective enforcement, and if the Amnesty owners dealt with everything on the list, the city of Orange would come up with more.

[Tom & Bonnie]

Typicaly the cities don't know how to deal with swingers clubs like these. They assume that they fit into the Sexual Encounter Club category but that is wrong as those clubs have paid entertainers. Swingers provide their own entertainment...

The proper way to do it is to not call yourself a S.O.B. club but rather get a license as a "Private Social Club" and don't mess with alcohol licensing as that agency inflicts morality codes as well.

We have seen too many times were club owners try to get in under the radar by licensing themselves as something they are not. That will always get you shut down.

In this case, the owners could've fought the zoning issues but they may have something else lurking in the background that we don't know about yet!