IRKED NEIGHBORS ACCUSE OWNER OF RUNNING A BUSINESS AT PLAYBOY MANSION

Everybody loves a party, particularly Playboy magnate Hugh Hefner.

While U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez was forced to cancel her Playboy Mansion gala during the Democratic National Convention this month, the estate is jam-packed on just about every weekend.

Sometimes it’s scores of Hef’s closest friends, business acquaintances, political pals, buxom bombshells and hangers-on who show up at his rambling 31-room mansion in Holmby Hills.

Other times, it’s charities, political groups, trade associations or major corporations that are hosting fund-raisers and other events for as many as 1,500 people at a time.

But not everyone is having a good time. Particularly neighbors.

The well-heeled denizens who live near the Bunny Palace are hopping mad these days. They say the frequent parties and dinners at the Tudor-style residence are ruining their quiet lives and their neighborhood, where the average house sells for $1 million to $2 million.

Hef has been putting on parties for more than two decades. But it is only in the last two years, since he separated from his Playboy bunny wife, that things have gotten out of hand, neighbors say.

In fact, Holmby Hills residents are so fed up they say they are seriously considering a lawsuit against the magazine mogul and Playboy Enterprises, which has owned the mansion since 1971.

“We are literally going bananas,” said one neighbor who asked not to be identified. “We live in a residential area, and we thought we were living in a residential area that is not a nightclub.”

At the heart of the dispute is whether the Playboy Mansion is operating as a commercial enterprise (which would be prohibited under city zoning laws), or whether it is a legal home-based business, or merely a personal residence.

L.A. city officials are uncertain whether the mansion really qualifies as a business or not, or whether anything is happening there that constitutes a violation of city codes.

“Technically, Playboy Mansion could be considered a home-based business, but there is a whole list of restrictions (for such enterprises to operate legally in L.A.) from the number of employees, to how much parking they take up, to bothering the neighbors,” said Bob Steinbach, chief residential inspector for the L.A. city Building and Safety Department.

Legal standards

The city does take steps to stop commercial activities in residential areas. Steinbach said last year, the department forced a Hollywood production company using an L.A. mansion for its offices to shut down. “A film studio was in there doing their dailies and using it as a business,” he explained. “That is not appropriate.”

To take action against the Playboy Mansion, Steinbach said his department would have to be called before or during a party, and would then send out code enforcement officers to see if there were any zoning code violations. Steinbach said he has not received any calls complaining about the Playboy Mansion.

Residents seem confused about which city officials they’re supposed to call.

Property owners have complained in writing to L.A. City Councilman Mike Feuer, whose district encompasses Holmby Hills. Playboy officials met with Feuer’s staff to discuss the problem. Rochelle Ventura, Feuer’s chief field deputy, said the councilman can’t resolve any of these issues until complaints are lodged with the city’s Chief Zoning Administrator Robert Janovici.

“Janovici said he has never received a letter or a complaint from the residents,” Ventura said. “He suggested they send him a detailed list of how the mansion is impacting their lives before any action is taken.”

But association members say Feuer has handled other noise complaints, such as filming by production companies in the area.

“We feel the Playboy Mansion is a kind of hands-off issue because no one has an answer,” said Sandy Brown, president of the property owners’ association and deputy chief of staff for state Sen. Tom Hayden, D-Los Angeles. “Hefner is a wealthy individual who has a lot of money and clout with politicians and Hollywood. The attitude has been, ‘Let someone else deal with it.'”

Chronic annoyance

Residents complain there is too much traffic day and night going up and down their streets. Valet-parked cars line local thoroughfares and car alarms go off in the wee hours of the morning.

If it isn’t the noise and traffic, it’s the buzz of helicopters.

“We have clocked as many as 15 helicopters in an hour circling and circling (over the mansion) until we are so annoyed,” said one young woman who moved into the area three years ago. “About 70 percent of them are law enforcement the police department, the Coast Guard, the sheriff’s, the California Highway Patrol.”

Members of the Holmby-Westwood Property Owners’ Association said they will meet in the next few weeks to decide whether to take legal action in an effort to squelch the 74-year-old playboy’s frequent parties, where the guest list can rival the population of a small town.

In a list kept by the association, and confirmed by Playboy officials, there were 21 parties or fund-raisers held between Feb. 12 and June 21 this year at the Playboy Mansion.

“We have to draw the line on how the mansion is being used,” Brown said.

Residents claim that Playboy is profiting from the mansion’s in-house catering and valet service, and thus the mansion is a business enterprise.

Company officials admit that event coordinators are required to use the in-house Playboy Mansion caterers, but insist that neither Hefner nor Playboy Enterprises is profiting.

“We charge the hard costs (for catering) and don’t make a profit,” said Playboy spokesman Bill Farley, adding that a catered sit-down dinner runs about $200 a person, which covers the food and decorating costs. “I would be delighted if we were making a profit, but we’re not.”

Peace-making efforts

While there is some parking on the streets, company officials noted, in recent years they have made arrangements for guests to use the nearby parking lots at UCLA and at a shuttered Westwood department store. Guests are shuttled from the multi-tiered parking structures to the mansion to keep neighborhood parking problems at a minimum.

“It is incumbent upon us, as a part of that neighborhood, to be sensitive to what is going on and not take advantage of our neighbors, which is why we are doing the shuttle system,” Farley said.

However, not everyone has to use the shuttle system. VIPs who sniff at boarding a bus are treated to valet parking. And many of those cars, neighbors complain, end up in front of their houses.

“He uses our street as a parking lot. Employees come early and park here and walk up the hill to his mansion,” said one longtime resident who lives on Beverly Glen Boulevard. “Valet parkers come when there is a big party and run the cars back and forth. We have no room to park our own cars when we have company.”

Brown met with Playboy officials last November to talk about residents’ concerns. But she said nothing has changed.

“Basically, we left the meeting feeling there wasn’t any attempt to try to solve the problems that we have,” she said.