Students Claim Nightclub Bars Entry to Some Races : Civil rights: A protest is planned against Florentine Gardens in Hollywood. Students say the club uses a dress code to discriminate.

More than 400 students from a dozen colleges, angry over what they say is a racially discriminatory admissions policy at a Hollywood dance club, said they hoped to get the owner’s attention Thursday night by staging a lively protest outside.

The students charge that Florentine Gardens, a popular night club on Hollywood Boulevard, denies admission to many students from ethnic minorites on Thursday “University Nights,” by selectively applying a dress code.

“We hope (the owner) realizes we’re not just college kids doing this for fun,” said Soah Kim, president of the Asian Alliance at Occidental College. “It is a racist policy and they are trampling on our civil rights.”

The students walked in a circle in front of the club, carrying multicolored signs with slogans such as: “It’s not a dress code, it’s a race code” and “University Nights are for university whites.”

Joining the protesters was Brigida Knauer, dean of students at Occidental College, who said: “We believe in diversity and multiculturalism, and we wholeheartedly support our students in these efforts.”

Led by the Asian Alliance, the students said they spent several weeks gathering support for the protest on college campuses throughout the Los Angeles area, including UCLA and USC. They said they organized Thursday night’s rally after the club’s owner did not respond to their demands for an apology and the dismissal of a security supervisor.

“They have been very nonchalant about the whole thing,” said Asian Alliance Vice President Elaine Hsieh.

“Whether they practice discrimination or not, they need to explain themselves because that’s the impression they are giving us,” said USC student John Michael Schlitz. “We are obviously not talking about the prejudice of a few bouncers, but a general policy.”

An attorney for club owner Kenneth MacKenzie said this week that he has responded by letter with an offer to sit down and talk with the Occidental group’s leadership.

“We would like to meet with a single spokesperson of the group,” said attorney Robert A. DePiano. “We are looking for a face-to-face meeting, but not with 300 or 400 students.”

A spokesman in City Councilman Michael Woo’s office said that the councilman has received similar complaints about Florentine Gardens before, and has contacted MacKenzie to seek assurances that the club is not discriminating against minorities.

Word of problems in gaining entry to the nightclub began to spread among Asian, black, and Latino students when school started this fall.

In September, for example, about 20 members of the Asian Alliance said they were told they were denied entry to the club because they were inappropriately dressed in “baggy pants.” When they protested that white patrons in similar attire were admitted, Hsieh said, a security supervisor at Florentine Gardens told them “there are already too many of your kind in there.”

Other minority students complained they were being turned away for wearing such attire as sweaters and “shiny shoes.”

DePiano acknowledged in October that “the dress code may be the only articulated reason for refusal,” but that patrons are selected on criteria including “safety and security.”

Radio advertisements and a telephone recording at the club describe the dress code simply as “dressy.”

When it comes to deciding which patrons to admit, DePiano said, security personnel are directed to “deny someone who may cause a disruption inside . . . (or) those who may try to start a fight,” DePiano said last month. “You have to consider reducing or eliminating potential disruption inside.”

DePiano said, however, that the club has not had any particular problems of violence or gangs.

Florentine Gardens’ “University Night,” with its thumping dance music and long lines of hopeful patrons snaking into an expansive parking lot, has long been popular with area students.

Student leaders said they will continue protesting outside the club every Thursday until the owner agrees to meet with them as a group.