by Kevin Cody
Of all the Beach City businesses closed by the pandemic, none has been more lamented than Comedy and Magic Club. It closed in March 2020, along with all other County entertainment venues, pursuant to an order by the Angeles County Department of Health .
Last summer, when pandemic restrictions were relaxed and many clubs reopened, Comedy and Magic remained closed. At the time, owner Mike Lacey said even with a return to full occupancy his club could not survive unless the city allowed him to increase seating.
On Tuesday, Feb. 15, the Hermosa Beach Planning will review Lacey’s request to add 100 seats by removing the office behind the stage.
Lacey is also asking for a lifting of his Conditional Use Permit requirement that “comedy/theatrical production shall be maintained 50 percent of the operating time.”
That requirement has prevented daytime usage of the 9,500 square foot club for business meetings and weddings.
The additional 100 seats would restore the total seating to the 350 seats the club had when Lacey opened it in 1978.
“I don’t want 600 seats. But I don’t want to keep losing money, or barely breaking even, like I have been for decades, since the city took away my seating,” he said on Friday.
Over the years, the city reduced the club’s seating from the original 350 seats to as low as 188 seats in the early 2000s. It was allowed 250 seats when it closed.
Lacey said he needs 350 seats to be competitive with newer comedy clubs, such as the Laugh Factory in Long Beach, and the Improv clubs in Ontario, Brea and Irvine, which have 600 seats.
The increased seating, Lacey noted, will also benefit the many community and charity events he hosted in the years prior to the pandemic, including the annual Chamber of Commerce Awards Dinner. (Last week’s Chamber of Commerce Awards Dinner was held at the Lighthouse Cafe, whose seating capacity is 135.)
City Community Development Director Ken Roberston, said, in an interview last summer, that the city will allow Comedy and Magic to have 350 seats, contingent on planning commission approval of the new floor plan by Lacey’s architect, BJ Wickett of Houston/Tyner, in Torrance.
Lacey said Friday, based on the recent support expressed by Robertson, building inspector Bob Rollins, and newly elected Councilman Raymond Jackson, he is hopeful his plans will receive Planning Commission approval.
If the plans are approved, he said, he will reopen the club with its current seating configuration, while proceeding with the seating expansion. ER
