juat out ▼ fab rua ry 7. 1907 ▼ 13
TH T f H m f m T B I W
Transitions..
My
ft 4
A new group for
Queer and
questioning youth
in Beaverton!
Unstoppable
Like that mechanical rabbity Lanny Swerdlow just keeps
going and going—and the city can take a hike
FREE AND CONFIDENTIAL!
Wednesdays
from 3:30-5:00pm
▼
by Inga Sorensen
T
he descriptive “tenacious” doesn’t
seem to do Lanny Swerdlow justice.
“We are opening tonight, no mat
ter what,” Swerdlow told Just Out on
the morning of Jan. 31.
Followers of the seemingly endless saga in
volving Swerdlow’s City Nightclub will grasp
the significance of that date: Under terms of a
stipulated agreement reached this fall with the
City of Portland, Swerdlow was to have found a
qualified buyer by Jan. 30 to take over ownership
of the business, which he has owned and operated
since 1983.
If he failed to meet that deadline, The City
Nightclub, an alcohol-free Portland dance club
predominantly serving sexual minority youth in
their teens and early 20s, was to permanently
close.
Though there were reportedly several pro
spective buyers, a deal was not reached on time
and The City Nightclub shut down. Swerdlow,
however, immediately leased a space at 333 SW
Park St. in Portland and opened a new, as yet
unnamed, club.
Swerdlow, who describes the enterprise as a
“work in progress,” stresses that the business is
also geared toward sexual minor
ity youth.
‘The major difference is the
new place has a different layout.
It’s more of a big open room. I’d
also like to have a full-service
restaurant here,” says Swerdlow,
who had spent the last several days
transporting the innards of The
City Nightclub, which was located
at Northwest 13th Avenue just off
Burnside, over to the new site.
The move is the ultimate out
come of a several-month battle
between the city and Swerdlow.
The settlement agreement was
prompted by a civil suit filed in
December 1995 by Nancy E. Ayres,
senior deputy city attorney, against the building’s
owners, ADS Investment Limited Partnership,
which is controlled by the Schnitzer family.
The suit maintained the club violated the city ’ s
Specified Crime Property Ordinance, which bars
the use of a building for the distribution of a
controlled substance.
The settlement was reached on Oct. 28, just a
week before a scheduled trial date.
“I think the most important thing people should
know is that Lanny Swerdlow, in this agreement,
admitted he was in violation of the ordinance,”
Ayres told Just Out in November.
Ayres, who declined to comment for this story,
wrote many of the operating conditions listed in
the settlement. Those stipulations included a green
light for the Portland Police Bureau to conduct
background checks on—as well as the right to
approve or deny the sale to—potential buyers.
According to Swerdlow, several prospective
parties expressed interest in purchasing the club,
which he says he adamantly wanted to remain a
queer youth hangout.
Swerdlow says a handful of applicants, in
cluding a few gay and lesbian candidates, re
ceived clearance from the bureau. The list of
approved applicants was then passed on to the
landlords for consideration.
“It came down to three gay parties who wanted
to buy the club and two straight parties,” says
Swerdlow, adding he opted for gay ownership.
"The Schnitzers eliminated the three gay parties,
proving to me that what they wanted to do all
along was get rid of The City Nightclub because
of its clientele.”
Gregory Baum, a Portland attorney represent
ing Schnitzer interests, says he finds that claim
"totally offensive.”
“It didn’t matter what the age, race or sexual
orientation of the buyer was,” says Baum. “We
were concerned with the candidates’ business
background and experience and whether they
could operate a business so the landlords wouldn’ t
get into another quagmire with the city. We didn’t
have a clue—and didn’t care—what anyone’s
sexual orientation was.”
Baum further says of the landlords, Arlene,
Harold and Jordan Schnitzer: “Anyone who knows
them knows there is not a discriminatory bone in
their bodies.”
He adds that the landlords fully expected any
new owner to continue operating a club specifi
cally for sexual minority youth “except without
the legal problems.”
(One group of prospective buyers—who fell
into Swerdlow’s “straight” column—were asso
ciates of Janus Youth Programs, which provides
social services to queer youth, among others.)
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Another applicant who passed a police check
was Debbie Counts, 31, a longtime lesbian and
gay rights advocate. Counts worked several years
with Pride Northwest, which organizes Portland’s
annual Pride Celebration. She is also a major
booster of the idea of a gay and lesbian commu
nity center, and was Swerdlow’s top choice to
become the new owner.
“She was not offering the most money for the
club,” says Swerdlow, “but I know that she is
really committed to the community and these
young people, and that’s what made the differ
ence for me.”
Counts says she and a friend, Anthony
DePrada, sought to jointly purchase The City
Nightclub, a site Counts had frequented during
the past year in an effort to show support for
sexual minority young people.
Counts, who works for an insurance company,
says ADS ultimately rejected her application be
cause she “had no experience as a club owner.”
“I’m very disappointed,” she says, adding she
is “not yet ready to cry homophobia.”
Swerdlow, meanwhile, says he simply de
cided to shut the club down and open another.
Though Swerdlow has just closed one chapter
of his life, the trouble may not be over.
No matter. When asked what he believes city
officials’ response to his latest endeavor will be,
Swerdlow answers with gusto: “I think they’ll go
ballistic, but I don’t care about them, I care about
the kids.”
1
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consultation.
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David Anderson
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2078 NW Everett St.
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