SALSA TOO SEXY - OR OUTRIGHT RACISM? The Closure of the Duet and Santa Monica Pier Boathouse - HOT Controversy and Outrage
SALSA TOO SEXY - OR OUTRIGHT RACISM? The Closure of the Duet and Santa Monica Pier Boathouse - HOT Controversy and Outrage
A few months ago, a newly popular Salsa Nightclub called "The Duet" was closed down in the city of Westwood, CA for not having an appropriate "Dance Permit". Other forms of dancing, "private swing and pop" parties had gone on there for many years, but when the club decided to start "Salsa Nights", the city's council members shut them down.... I went to the court hearings, and the word "Racism" kept coming up....
More recently, the Santa Monica Boathouse, known for it's "8-hour Salsa Sundays" was closed because a conservative person decided that the dancing was "too explicit" for a young audience (kids visiting the pier, and watching the dancing) This person managed to shut down the place. These two incidents have since caused such a controversy, we may be seeing this on 60 Minutes, and in all the Press....
If you want to sign a petition to help us get the Santa Monica Pier Boathouse back, please fill out the form below.
LATEST NEWS FROM ALBERT!!!
Your personal info above, will be kept in our database for proof of petition at court hearings. Now, enter your comments below. This will be placed on a separate page for the media and world to view.
ROBERT DRESSLER
California Tel::
213 773 1948
Email: rdressler@compuserve.com
To all whom it may concern,
Subject: Salsa in Santa Monica at the Boat House
To which ever city I travel to throughout this great nation I am always
hearing the boasting of our national freedom and our constitutional rights.
In fact this great nation demonstrates by historical record the many brave
and dedicated men and women that sacrificed their lives to preserve this
nation's creed founded on the principals of liberty and justice for all.
Governments, national and local are there to preserve and protect those
precious hard fought for liberties. However to my great surprise and
disappointment, we still have legislators, especially local governing
bodies, that are more concerned with excuses for restricting those
liberties solely for the purpose of collecting new and more tax revenues.
I can truly understand legislation such as seat belts, compulsory
insurance, driving while intoxicated, and other categories that are design
to protect the health and welfare of the community; both adult and child.
Furthermore,, when the public coffers and insurance pools are severely
diminished by flagrant violations and reckless negligence that causes
public tax funds and group insurance funds to contribute to high
maintenance of the disabled in emphysema wards, head injury clinics, and
brain damage treatment centers , and centers delivering therapy and
treatment for domestic violence and child abuse, one can fully understand
the necessity for intelligent ordinances.
In a society where individuals can not enter a court building without
electronic surveillance of body and belongings to protect against isolated
cases of terrorism or where the self same surveillance must now be added to
our public school system where children of all ages require entry ; or in a
society filled with so much anger and fear our political leadership is
perpetually devising protective aids, which now hold all citizens under
suspicion until proven innocent by some protective surveillance and these
protective ordinances have now become a necessary inconvenience to restrict
our long legacy of freedom.
And yet within a society filled with restriction after restriction, barrier
after barrier, repeated offenses by
Pedophiles can not be contained or retrained based on the lack of
substantial legislation or some mysterious constitutional rights wrongly
given to pedophiles that sexually abuse children; and even, after some
mentally deformed pedophiles may have even repeatedly abused as many as
fifty children. Our families are plagued by some impropriety in the law;
which in fact takes on the subtle form amnesty in the name of false and
deceptive therapies labeled by a euphemism : rehabilitation, and this,
amnesty, suddenly appears to release and raise havoc within our safe
communities.
Repeated pedophiles can not be restrained in the name of American
legislation and justice while the protection of our families and children
are in jeopardy;demonstrated by repeated offenders with minimal sentences
being paroled and placed in housing near and next to families ,schools and
young children.
With still blood on our highways caused by abusive and negligent drivers,
abused children caused by repeated offenders ,in the midst of all this kind
of chaos, police
officers are assigned to lesser duties and ushered to write penalties and
place restrictions based on some local old world ordinance that was
probably passed in 1932 related to dancing.
For in America in the city of Santa Monica, down by the beach on the pier
in a place called the boathouse gather on sunday afternoon at 2 pm to dance
salsa, to latin rhythms, where male and female communicate to the same beat
in bodily language of left forward and right back, fully and properly
attired, without risqué or sexual gesture to drink water and maybe have a
few beers to do pirouettes and pivots and move to puerto rican meringues
only to be intoxicated by the rhythm and sound of music.
Absolutely no drunken disorderliness; no chanting in loud staccato ; no
nude dancing !! No ladies hanging from rafters and dancing topless to
voyeuristic beady eyed men; only a group of latinos and other mixed ethnic
dancers where unreported or not news worthy by the media, every skin, hair
and eye color dance together in love and harmony. This is a place where all
is well with america, a place of racial harmony which could or should be a
template for the rest of our divided nation. Where are the news reporters
or cnn or the paparazzi to show the world that this nation also has parts
where there is wonderful racial harmony in dance and music in a place in
Santa Monica, California.
Instead we the salsa dancers of Los Angeles and southern California are
under arrest for violating some local ordinance, forced off the outside
patio and bunched inside in crowded in door conditions of the boathouse.
The owners of the restaurant and the promoters of the danceout are written
up with penalties and warnings and must not allow anyone to dance on the
enclosed patio in the open sunlight.
My local friends are no longer coming to see me and dance with me because
we are too crowded and we need space to dance with proper movement or out
of frustration leave early or refrain from dancing.
So in America plagued with disharmony, corruption, rage and anger where
prisons are overcrowded and mental retards burst out with anger and gun
violence; a place in Santa Monica on the pier called the boathouse can not
escape police arrest and intervention for dancing with decent and proper
attire on the outdoor patio in poetic and platonic love and harmony; simply
put : friendship.
Therefore, to purpose this letter and address the honorable mayor of santa
monica and your civic leaders, to kindly address this injustice and visit
and view for yourself; and then, allow patio salsa dancing to continue so
that you and the police department can turn your efforts to the real
priorities that are fostered by anger and hatred where the public needs
your truly rational ordinances for their protection.
We feel so strongly about this issue that I am going to ask the Latino
community and other ethnic and freedom loving americans to publicly boycott
Santa Monica by not visiting and purchasing from any businesses within the
geographical area.
In addition i want to ask Mr. Albert Torres who is promoting the salsa
dancing to consider moving to another beach city or community and to
advertise this on the salsa web.com. For on the higher moral and community
plane, Santa Monica does not yet realize what an asset and community
highlight for out of area visitors and tourists and how these dancers add
color, charm and character to the area.
Before we consider any drastic changes, we appeal to you and invite the
honorable Mayor of Santa Monica and his prudent leadership to witness this
wholesome activity as a new slice of american apple pie and to modify
their position and speedily remove the dancing restriction imposed and not
to burden the police department with such inconsequential activities while
they need adequate time to do as they have been heroically doing; that is,
protecting and advancing the deep and serious responsibilities, as above
mentioned for the protection of our communities.
Sincerely,
Robert Dressler
P.s. You do not have to agree with all the opinions expressed herewithal
but if you are for lifting the salsa ban on the patio, please sign the
informal petition below with name and area of residence or even name only
Agree with lifting the salsa ban on patio dancing
Part 11 Salsa shutdown, boat house Santa Monica pier
No dancing this Sunday again because of the police shut down
"The Rest of the Story"
To borrow the vernacular from Paul Harvey
Police protection of the community or police harassment ?
Police intelligent use of time and priorities or police neglect of the real
serious problems in society ?
In some communities in this nation , police tell you directly that they do
not have the time or manpower to address the theft of your car or the
vandalism in your police report because they have more serious activates to
attend to.
After writing the above and describing some of the activities at the boat
house, new information had been added to describe prior events. I have
therefore filled in with more information.
Since salsa dancing is occurring every sunday afternoon, from five to seven
police officers had been assigned to observe and monitor the boat house
activities; so possibly seven officers were assigned for four or five hours
just to
observe and make notes or produce reports on the activities. At different
times the officers would make some visits and walk through for closer
observation. These police observations had been going on for many many
weeks with many officers in spite of the fact that there was never and
disturbance of any kind of illegal activities or any disruptions to the
community.
Weeks later an officer began to take pictures for about four to five hours
; picture after picture of the dancers without their authorization. Perhaps
they were looking for drug dealers or paroled criminals or some one using
drugs ? Never, ever in this place was their any use of drugs, never ever
the slightest slight of marijuana and how and why this high powered police
investigation is warranted is a strange mystery. To place citizens who want
to go dancing in a place of dance and music under police surveillance
without justified cause because some officer decides or some individual
decides dance is improper. In spite of the fact that this kind of dance is
not a hard rock or associated with any kind of hard rock acid using
marijuana -pot head dancers. In fact to dance salsa one must have a very
clear head to count the beat and stay in step with ones partner. I know it
takes a concentrated effort to stay in step, to learn the movements,
maintain balance and turn the hands
with interlocking movements coordinating, beat, feet, arm and hand in
proper sequence.
In addition Albert Torres wants to promote salsa as a family dance similar
to country square dancing or country western where the feet and mind must
be very alert.
There is one more little issue that I must mention to complete the
description. At 2 pm out on the patio all guests that pay a five dollar fee
also get free group salsa lessons. And since this is a restaurant; local
and state law allows children to come to restaurants with there parents and
if a restaurant has a dancing permit; children are allowed to participate
and allowed to dance.
As part of the Latino culture and other cultures, many children are taught
to dance at a very early age by their parents. This attitude and love of
music and dancing and especially with their children is very entwined with
Latino and South American culture. Parents that love salsa music are
delighted to spread this love and appreciation to their children. The
dancing lessons are a very important part of the program. Beginners and
intermediate dancers are attending to learn some new steps. On July 23
there is a salsa dance congress, in Puerto Rico, where dancers are
attending from all over the world. Many of the pivots and turns are
extremely precise and coordinated on the same drum beat so the female and
male partner move step and turn to the exact same rhythm. Everyone is
trying to learn the new hand movements and turns between couples.
The police had to make an intensive study of all the dancers by thorough
observation. On a sunday afternoon they objected to parents dancing with
their children on the patio. On a sunday afternoon the police objected to
anyone dancing on the patio based on some technicality in dance permits
given by the city leaders.
The boat house owners claim that dancing had been permitted for years and
was never an issue. The police would be entering on sundays asking for all
permits and licenses making the owner spend hours, during a very busy time,
answering questions and interrogations. Thus, by some technicality in the
paper work or some small issue of the permit which was solely a
discretionary or judgmental issue and open to police interpretation,
dancing on the patio based on a vague impropriety in the permit in spite of
years and years of dancing on the patio, the patio was shut down. Dancing
was now off limits. Warnings, penalties, police intervention was
clearly set in cement.
The next issue was: is drinking permitted on the patio ? Boat House permits
were legal; however a faxed copy of the permit was not acceptable. The
boathouse was ordered not to serve drinks on the patio or they would be
closed down. In spite of the fact that drinking had been going on for
years, perhaps, when the police receive the original copy of the patio
drinking permit they may lift the drinking ban. Someone may have to whistle
dixie in perfect cadence at the same time in every nude dancing bar in
America to disband this ban.
On one Sunday, four couples had moved over to the patio and were dancing
even though all the tables had been set up on the patio to block dancing.
Suddenly there is a five or six police officer raid. Police officers
rushing in as if there was a drug bust and a high priority crime had been
committed.
Five or six officers stopped everything and claimed an extreme violation of
patio dancing. Mr. Torres claims only four couples had moved outside to the
patio. The police argued much more and exaggerated twenty to thirty. In
spite of so many citizen witnesses, the patio was now in extreme violation
of police warning and citation.
Mr. Torres is reputable and has impeccable credentials, after many years in
dance promotion and I have no reason to doubt his statements, claimed only
four dancers violated the patio dance ban. At one time Albert Torres the
promoter of the dance who is very professional politely asked the dominant
leader of the police officers what they were doing that was wrong to
receive this kind of a police raid ; and he was told and threatened that he
would be arrested for intervening ; as all the other police officers moved
away, as if they did not want any part of it or did not want to be a
witness to a blatant threat of police arrest for simply asking politely
some questions to understand the alleged charges the officers were making
.The threat to Mr. Torres was very sugggestive of a clear case of police
harassment and abuse of police power. Rule one do not ever protest police
action even with polite , soft spoken, and controlled conversation; for
even if you do that and they do not agree with your question you are to be
under arrest. Is this police rule # 13, no citizen is entitled to an
intelligent explanation which is not vague or general and if he does not
close his lips he is immediately arrested or threatened with arrest.. Of
course this is subject to the interpretation of the officer. What
constitutes disorderly conduct even in soft spoken and polite conversation
? One may be subject to arrest if they do not like your question or agree
with the idea that your question may be trying to illicit.
However , when he asked if it was the children dancing, though the officer
questioned it during a previous conversation or in past weeks, now, they
never would formally address the issue. The police officer replies were
always very vague and leaped from one unanswered issue to jump to the
other. This is the old bureaucratic approach, always claim the other bureau
has the authority, commonly known as the run around. Everyone has been
through that at some time or another.
Why would the police spend all this time addressing patio dancing ? Why
would they exaggerate , as if an excuse to close the dancing down ? Why
would they speak only in generalities and exaggerations and search for the
slightest and smallest issue with regard to attire when they had no legal
grounds on those issues ?. And why would a police officer who had no
stripes or seniority in a military organization and he was Latin American
where he was the most outspoken against the dancing, and he was the officer
who made the threats of arrests for a citizen just for questioning the
police procedure ? Perhaps, Mr. Torres, if you politely continued to ask
the questions, you would have been arrested and harassed and embarrassed
for such a petty crime, about, closing down patio salsa dancing on the pier
at Santa Monica
California, U.S.A.
>From the appearances and witnesses , the only officer that objected
strongly to salsa dancing on the patio was a non seniority Latin American
officer. This is assumed from appearances because he did not have
additional stripes on his uniform.
Is this an individual decision of the officer or was this suggestive of a
larger police strategy ? Are there complaints coming from another portion
of our citizen groups that are moving the police to develop a strategy to
close the dancing down ?
The pier had been developing family activities. Off pier fishing amusement
rides, restaurants, clowns , pantomime, harp players, etc. etc.
Families come in to salsa dance. How do we find the clear issues in this
situation ? Is someone complaining or objecting to salsa dancing at the
boat house as standing up for family values ? Is some individual police
officer appraisal or interpretation going to be the governing factor; the
judge and jury as to what is appropriate family values ? If mothers and
fathers , want to dance with their children and teach them to appreciate
the music, should not that be a freedom of choice, parental decision. .
Further more, many of these parents who love to dance but do not want to or
can not afford to leave there children with a baby sitter, can come to the
boathouse with the entire family.
Albert torres will not compromise on the issue that families should be
deprived of the dance experience and as a matter of principal will not
accept the banning of families with their children to attend the dance
classes and the dancing. The dancing will be discontinued but the issue of
local government intervention and our right to dance on a patio will not
ever fade away.
Wholesome salsa dancing on Santa Monica pier will be discontinued, but I am
sure I can search through the streets, in dark and shady areas, or on
lighted boulevards , somewhere in Santa Monica ,which I have not yet
searched, to find the naked and nude topless joints that are a dime a dozen
in every sleazy city in this nation where the beady eyed men sit in drunken
frenzy with bottles of beer and look on stages at dancing nudity shoving
dollars down panties or panty hose for a close up table dance. Are you
telling me, Santa Monica" that you do not have any of these sleazy dance
parlors anywhere in your city ?
Does any one realize that all dancing is not the same ? Or has the field of
dance suffered from the same stimulus generalization, the blanket mentality
that lumps ideas in garbage collections and breeds prejudice so that the
same blind people who think with their rectums think all dancers or dancing
is the same : which is the same garbage mentality which bred prejudice in
America with regard to skin color. ?
Therefore, publicly, Mr. Albert Torres is entitled to have his questions
answered by the police department of Santa Monica as to what constitutes
this crime of dance. Who is deciding this is not appropriate ? Where is the
national dialogue ? Where is the news media on this issue? Is there going
to be a debate ? A consensus of opinion? Where are the law professors on
this issue ?
Albert Torres insists that families have the right to enter a restaurant
with their children on a sunday afternoon in the clear daylight sun to
dance and to teach them dancing. There should be no government agency to
deprive parents of this right. Rightly so, government and society want to
protect children from abusive spanking, injury and child abuse, but wrongly
so, is the right to dance with your child
also going to be against the law ?
And just to let those who understand very little about dancing or dance
very little themselves, i would like to inform others of the following :
Dancing is being recognized by Olympic committees as a sport and I believe
will be a part of future olympic contests. Also, there are world wide
tournaments, contests congresses and championship dances going on all over
the world. Our educational and public broadcasting channels show dance
championship contests many times. Dancing is an aerobic activity that
requires at times acrobatic skills and exceptional physical strength and
energy; while dancing adds to cardiovascular health.
Furthermore, next July 23, world championship dancers are flying in from
all over the world to dance in Puerto Rico at a dance congress, including
dozens of professional training and learner workshops.
We have more here than what meets the eye. Every dance organization, dance
studio should be in this debate. Every civil liberties group, every
organization and university that supports a balance and control of police -
state power should be in on this issue ?
Is this a community welfare and safety issue ? Or is this police state
abuse of power bordering on police harassment ? Are the police and local
governing bodies just going to far on this issue. Is salsa to be
characterized as family dancing and part of a family heritage and legacy
both cultural and social which has evolved from old world values from Latin
America ?
I do not have the time to address historical and cultural evolution of
Afro- cuban & Latin salsa music but I can tell you that Albert Torres has
this amazing history and culture on his side for taking a stand that this
music is entwined with positive family values and every ethnic mix of
people are enchanted with the dance and music. Many, many church
organizations sponsor community dancing, family dancing and the europeans
have squat position dancing that requires amazing physical stamina while
the dance on one leg while the other leg is in out reach suspension as
they pivot on one leg. I have seen such athletic stamina performed by some
dancers down at the boathouse and I was truly amazed. If the police ever
gave this kind of dance ( D W I Test ) for intoxicated or drug use drivers
who could not even stand on one leg yet alone spin, squat and extend to
rhythm 99% of America would fail this test.
Would not police activities be better and much more productive and
protective of society if they would concentrate on drunken out of control
drivers who have historically in the past 50 years put so much blood and
dismemberment on our highways and disabled so many children with death,
disability and brain damage that if collectively we could just picture such
destructive child abuse it would make our hair stand on end ? And until
this very day the police and the American justice - legal system will not
eradicate with stronger conviction what tearful mothers against drunken
drivers have been pleading and begging the courts for stronger action
against repeated offenders. And now, the police are spending hours on hours
writing reports, studying, investigating and raiding patio Salsa dancing as
blood against our passenger children still lingers on this nations
highways. Wouldn't the police want to me more concerned with this child
dismemberment issue as a priority rather than raiding dancing parents with
some of their children ? Every time i was at the boat house in open
daylight I could count the children on my fingers.
However I am told they loved the dance lessons.
Perhaps, the police department needs sensitivity training on the evolution
of salsa music ? However, I would certainly like the media to interview the
startled children who left the patio confused, crying and sad thinking that
something terrible had been done out on the patio to incite a police raid.
Oh if we could only have a video of the great crime stoppers, in military
blue, like marines invading a beach moving in on a patio raid where
children were dancing with their parents and families are sitting around in
day light watching dancers. Does any one see the full significance of this
event or this letter all hot air ? Please talk shows , is this what the
police must
do ? Look and study dancers ? (for hours and hours at a time)
Every media reporter and talk show host should be on this : collective
monologue and dialogue. I can just imagine a fictional image of the front
headlines of local newspapers. " Police arrest salsa dancers for dancing on
the patio" in bold print. The restaurant is almost closed and Mr. Torres is
almost arrested for daring to question and understand the meaning of his
dance crime. Please wake me and let me smell the coffee! Am I still
living in the United States of America ? Is this still the land of the free
? Has President Clinton hired all these new police officers to arrest salsa
dancers fully clothed and close part of the restaurant for patio
dancing
Please " Mark Anthony" ( Shakespeare lend me an ear )
" O judgment , thou art fled to brutish beasts, and men have lost their
reason. Bear with me, my heart is in the coffin there with Caesar. And I
must pause till it come back to me."
Quoted from " The Tragedy of Julius Caesar "
Sincerely,
Robert Dressler
On a "Lighter" Note...
ONLY IN THE US LEGAL SYSTEM...
> A Charlotte, North Carolina man, having purchased a case of rare,
> very expensive cigars, insured them against . . . (get this) . . .
> fire. Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of fabulous
> cigars, and having yet to make a single premium payment on the
> policy, the man filed a claim against the insurance company.
> In his claim, the man stated that he had lost the cigars in "a
> series of small fires." The insurance company refused to pay, citing the
> obvious reason that the man had consumed the cigars in a normal
> fashion. The man sued . . . and won. In delivering his ruling, the
> judge stated that since the man held a policy from the company in
> which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable, and also
> guaranteed that it would insure the cigars against fire, without
> defining what it considered to be "unacceptable fire, "it was
> obligated to compensate the insured for his loss. Rather than endure
> a lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted
> the judge's ruling and paid the man $15,000 for the rare cigars he
> lost in "the fires."
>
> *** This is the funny part ***
> After the man cashed his check, however, the insurance company had
> him arrested on 24 counts of arson. With his own insurance claim and
> testimony from the previous case being used as evidence against him,
> the man was convicted of intentionally burning the rare cigars and
> sentenced to 24 consecutive one year terms