Adult store's ‘peep shows' create stir in Porterville

A "peep show" booth that opened a month ago at the Sawana Adult Store is generating ripples of controversy throughout Porterville.

The store, located at 1531 W. Olive Ave., is an adult novelty store that sells toys, videos and other marital aids.

Trina Leon, a manager of a local Straw Hat Pizza restaurant, is one resident who hopes to see the city take steps toward shutting the booths down and banning them from returning.

“We know we have a porn shop in this town,” Leon said, “but I don’t want our town to have a peep show here.”

Leon took matters into her own hands by presenting the topic at the Porterville City Council meeting on Tuesday night. In three spirited minutes, she spoke about the dangers these booths could pose to the city.

“Sexual addiction is a fast-growing problem in our country,” she said. “I won’t go into all the stuff that it does to a community.”

City council members were impressed with Leon’s tenacity and presentation on a subject they say few others have addressed.

“I thought it was gutsy on her part,” Porterville Mayor Cam Hamilton said today. “For her to go out and look into that, I thought it was brave.”

Councilman Felipe Martinez agreed and said Porterville would do well to have more active residents.

“We need more responsible citizens like Ms. Leon in this town,” Martinez said today. “I was impressed she took the initiative to go check it out and do her research on it.”

Hamilton said city attorney Julia Lew spearheaded an investigation this morning at Sawana to determine if they were in violation of city ordinances. Mayor Pro-tempore Pete McCracken said the next step, if the adult store is in violation, is to determine whether the adult store obtained a conditional use permit ­— a process that may be completed in the next few days.

“I believe it’s legal to rent videos, but I don’t think they can show them without a permit,” McCracken said today. “My personal feeling is that it’s illegal and we need to take the necessary actions to correct the situation.”

Martinez said he wasn’t aware of a peep show operating in town and ensured that council members would act swiftly.

“If it’s against city ordinances, it won’t be too difficult to shut down,” he said. “I don’t want to see it in this town.”

Traditionally, peep shows are coin-operated booths that display pornographic images, either through film or live objects. Sawana has four booths, each with a video screen and a list of videos to choose from. They operate at a quarter per minute and do not have live shows.

Ali Radjawani, who works as a clerk at Sawana, today said his store is the only one in town that offers video peep shows. Radjawani said the store’s owner came up with the idea, and so far, the business is slowly increasing.

“Some guys don’t know about it and they want to come back and try it the next time,” Radjawani said.

As for the complaints from some of the citizens, Radjawani shrugged his shoulders.

“It doesn’t matter, it’s legal,” he said.

Leon said she called the city of Visalia and learned they do not have peep shows within city boundaries and that Fresno is the next nearest city with any such service.

“I don’t want to see people coming from out of town into our town to view porn,” Leon said. “Porterville is known as a charming town. In 1994, (it) was the only city in California to be selected to the All-America cities.”

To be sure, Leon checked the store out for herself, wondering whether the store would potentially allow her 16-year-old daughter to enter.

“I just went to see what it was,” she said. “They have the screen, the chair, the toilet paper — everything right there for you. It’s disgusting and it’s vile.”

Hamilton said the city has not dealt with such issues in the past, partly because of an ordinance that was passed to ban similar businesses from the heart of the city when he first entered office several years ago.

“Unfortunately, with freedom of expression, people can bring all kinds of things into our city and sometimes those things aren’t healthy,” Hamilton said. “We want to try and keep our children away from them. Within my own values, I share everything (Leon) said.”

-- Contact Jason Peterson at 784-5000, Ext. 1048, or jpeterson@portervillerecorder.com.