City cites Westwood’s Zone d’Erotica
By Daily Bruin Staff
Feb. 20, 2002 9:00 p.m.
KEITH ENRIQUEZ/Daily Bruin Senior Staff UCLA student Rahul
Varshney eyes one of the many sex toys on sale at Zone d’Erotica, a
new store in Westwood
By Dexter Gauntlett
Daily Bruin Staff
The city of Los Angeles cited the owner of the controversial
Zone d’Erotica lingerie store for violating a zoning code
Friday, and ordered him to reduce the amount of adult paraphernalia
on the sales floor by March 1.
The store is in violation of L.A. Municipal Code 12.70, which
dictates that an “adult bookstore” cannot exist within
500 feet of a residential area. Zone d’Erotica, located at
1035 Gayley Ave., is 375 feet from the Gayley Terrace apartment
complex.
Under the code, an “adult bookstore” is defined as
an establishment with a substantial portion of its merchandise
““ such as movies, instruments or devices ““ that are
designed for use in connection with “specified sexual
activities” or “specified anatomical areas.”
Store owner John Coil ““ who will face a $1,000 fine or
six-month jail sentence if he does not comply with the city’s
demands ““ said he is confident that business won’t be
affected by the rearranging and only 25 percent of his merchandise
will be adult products, 8 percent below what the city is asking,
according to Coil.
According to Zone d’Erotica manager Bambi Hall, the store
has been busy in its first few weeks, and about 50 percent of those
who come in are college students.
Hall said she is taking measures to reduce the possibility of
conflict with the community, though there have hardly been any
complaints, she added.
“I’m absolutely not trying to corrupt
children,” Hall said, adding that she was going to remove
some of the more risque items from the window display.
Shelley Taylor, director of the North Village Improvement
Committee, said she has received several negative phone calls about
Zone d’Erotica.
The main problem the community has with the store is not
morally-based, but economy-based, she said.
“It’s purely a pocketbook dispute,” she said.
“Property value of homes and businesses could go down if
people don’t want to go to a restaurant or live in an
apartment complex close to an adult bookstore.”
Zone d’Erotica is the only “adult bookstore”
in Westwood, and some students see the store as out of place.
“I’m personally not offended by the store, but it
just doesn’t seem to reflect the community identity of
Westwood,” said Bret Galeste, a fifth-year English
student.
Tom Hong, a fifth-year economics student said the store is
reminiscent of “Duets,” a dance club in Westwood that
was shut down a few years ago.
“The Westwood community doesn’t want the store here
because they are afraid of what will come next,” he said.
Fourth-year French student Joshua Joiner believes the city did
not have the right to tell Zone d’Erotica how to run its
business.
“The store is part of our capitalist society. This is
evidence of the city being a little conservative and
narrow-minded,” he said.
Despite the sanction, Coil said he will still attempt to make
people more liberal in their attitudes toward sex.
“We’re here to educate people, not get along with
them,” he said.
