Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer announced Monday that his office has filed a civil lawsuit against the owners and operator of an unlicensed underground nightclub for allegedly operating in violation of county and state COVID-19 public health orders.
Advertised on social media as a secret club, LA Party Society, 1114 South Main Street, has been allegedly operating out of a storefront in downtown’s Fashion District without any of the required permits and licenses amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Feuer’s office said in a news release Monday.
The club was accessible via the alleyway on Main Street between 11th and 12th streets, officials said.
“I want to emphasize that packing people into an indoor space, an unlicensed nightclub during the pandemic is the height of irresponsibility,” Feuer said in a press briefing Monday announcing the lawsuit. “I mean, that’s why licensed clubs are forbidden to operate.”
Nightclubs and other social establishments are currently barred from operating in L.A. County due to the region’s COVID-19 case surge, and the LA Party Society lacks the proper permits to operate even if those restrictions were to be lifted, Feuer said.
The defendants in the case are Frontier Holdings LLC and Regal Group LLC — each of which have an ownership interest in the property where the nightclub was held, Feuer said.
Both companies are managed by real estate investor David Taban, who Feuer said is currently being prosecuted in two separate criminal cases. One of the cases involves the alleged operation of an illegal marijuana dispensary next door to the club, according to Feuer’s office.
Another defendant listed in the lawsuit is the tenant and operator of LA Party Society, Yves Oscar, Jr.
Oscar was arrested in August in front of the club on an outstanding warrant tied to an alleged sexual assault, Feuer said. During his arrest, more than one pound of marijuana was allegedly found in Oscar’s backpack, according to the city attorney.
Feuer said that the club and the alley directly behind it have been the sites of numerous shootings, assaults, and violence.
“We allege this club is a hub of violence and crime that spills out into the street and puts everyone in the Fashion District at risk — and we’re stopping it now,” Feuer said.
Recent incidents include the shooting of a security guard who was trying to break up a fight between two club goers on Sept. 4. One incident in August involved a patron who was pistol-whipped and robbed at gunpoint as he was leaving the club. About a week later, another patron was physically assaulted in the club after she confronted a man for stealing her phone.
Feuer’s lawsuit seeks to declare the club a public nuisance and permanently shut it down.
“We want to prevent the defendant from using this property in the future for a nightclub or any other unlawful purpose, and we’re seeking civil penalties and fees from the defendants,” Feuer said.
Feuer said his office and the Los Angeles Police Department have been working together to possibly shut off the utilities to the location, but no one has been arrested or criminally charged as a result of the allegations outlined in the civil case.