The City of Santa Ana spent hundreds of thousands starting up the Artists Village. Then they made tattoo shops, hookah bars and massage parlors illegal in the Downtown area. Now they have forced a gay bar that is opening up soon, called the Velvet Lounge, to go without male go-go dancers, according to the O.C. Register.
I don’t get it. If you are going to have an Artists Village shouldn’t you leave the prudishness at the door?
The argument I get from City Council loyalists is that Santa Ana is a family city, which is true to a certain extent but most families don’t venture into the Downtown area after dark. So why not let our hair down?
We have an all-Democratic City Council, with the exception of one Republican, Carlos Bustamante. So you would think this would be a more open-minded Council, but they are inconsistent. They supported a resolution honoring Harvey Milk Day but had a cow over male go-go dancers in a gay bar. That makes no sense!
The most reactive Council Member tends to be Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez, who works in the O.C. District Attorney’s office. She often talks about being part of law enforcement. But she is not married and has no kids, although she does bring her nieces to the annual Santa Ana Fiestas Patrias parade, and they ride in the parade with her.
For our Artists Village to thrive it needs to be more like Melrose and Westwood – and our City Council needs to loosen up.
There are also some concerns floating around about so-called “gaytrification,” which I guess refers to gentrification involving gay residents moving into the Downtown area and pushing out Latinos. I think that local gay leaders are trying to reach out and I think they mean well. It would be great to see them joining the battle to support the Dream Act and immigration reform in general. Gays, like Latinos, are minorities. They too have struggled with civil rights for years. And we share the same enemy in the form of the GOP.
I urge our City Council to stop emulating the Republicans and get over their misgivings about our Downtown area. Let the Artists Village be liberal. That is how it ought to be! If people want a conservative Downtown they ought to go somewhere else.
If you want to find out more about the Velvet Lounge, check out these links:
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Well it's going to be safer than my neighborhood:
http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_18605716
Dan and I LOVE Santa Ana, We don't live there, never shop there, but we like to comment onthe city cause it's an easy target for us White Guys.
It's getting rough in my HOMETOWN OF LONG BEACH.
I tried to go to a city council meeting there but it was filled with REAL politicos. WE LIKE TO PLAY-PRETEND.
We sure wish IRVINE had an establishment like this!
That's not in the Artist Village Admin. It's the Distrito Federal. A.k.a "Boys Town". Velvet Lounge, The White Elephant Bar, etc. etc.
You must not have gotten the memo Mateo. They are trying to extend the Artists Village.
The Yost will bring the artsy crowd to the East End...
Good job Mayor Pro Tem Alvarez!!!
I am glad to see that someone is making sure that the gaytrification of downtown doesn't get too out of hand. All those that were down at the council supporting this place would have been up in arms if it were a straight establishment.
Santa Ana is a family town and yet many of our leaders want to turn our downtown into Sodom and Gomorrah. What about the families? What are you doing for them?
Art, you just want to get those people out of your local park.
Seems to me there is a message in the location, across the street from the Federal Courthouse.
It's the lewd activity that we should all want out of the parks. The gay mafia has somehow gotten the SAPD to ignore the "hook ups" happening in OUR parks.
After 2am in da morning, where are all those hook ups going to go? Not home to their wifes or husbands.
The gay park up the street is going to be a hopping after hours venue.
Well cook we need to keep the pressure on city officials to clean up this mess and not allow the lewd activity to increase at the park.
I doubt they'll need to visit the parks for their extracurricular romps. Thanks to the planning commission, city council and Downtown Inc. they can use the restrooms at the Velvet Lounge and Yost.