Despite the sale to Beverly Hills billionaire Steven Udvar-Hazy last fall of the Laguna Beach property that houses the Boom Boom Room and the adjoining Coast Inn, a campaign has been launched to save the popular Laguna Beach gay nightspot from closure in September.

Fred Karger, founder of “Save the Boom,” said he started the campaign back in February after talking to Laguna Beach community members in order to assess the community’s level of support. Signature-gathering efforts as part of the Save the Boom campaign increased during the July 4 weekend.

Karger, who has frequented the Boom Boom Room since 1973 and has been a Laguna Beach resident for the last 10 years, said many residents did not want to see the closure of the city’s oldest gay club, which is located at 1401 South Coast Highway in Laguna Beach. Karger said the campaign is gaining support and he hopes to obtain 5,000 signatures to present to the City Council by September.

The Boom Boom Room, located inside the Coast Inn, has had a constant presence in Laguna Beach for decades and features weekly drag shows and other popular events.

According to Karger, the Boom Boom Room is the oldest gay bar in the western U.S. and first opened as the South Seas in 1927 for service men. It later became a major destination for Southern California’s gay community in the 1950s.

The Emerald Financial Group LLC, a company owned by Steven Udvar-Hazy, who is ranked number 125 on Forbes’ list of the 400 wealthiest Americans, reportedly bought the property and an adjacent 24-room inn in October for almost $13 million, and purchased two other parcels of land in the deal for a total transaction of $25 million.

As of press time, calls placed by the Gay & Lesbian Times to Udvar-Hazy and his architect, Morris Skanderian, were not returned.

Karger said Udvar-Hazy is reportedly planning to replace the Boom Boom Room with an 11-room boutique hotel and restaurant. Karger said his goal is to compromise with Udvar-Hazy, since Udvar-Hazy also purchased land across the street from the club for a shopping center.

“Economically, we hope to be able to take him some finance numbers to show him that it would be more profitable to have a night club and bar and hotel in the same spot, as opposed to a little exclusive hotel and five-star restaurant,” Karger said.

Laguna Beach’s hotels, resorts, restaurants and retail businesses have long benefited from gay and lesbian tourism, and if the Boom Boom Room were to close, the city would suddenly have much less allure for gay and lesbian travelers, Karger said.

“I’ve been talking to different firms about trying to do an economic study of what the gay travel and tourism dollar means to Laguna Beach. That’s in process right now,” he said.

Boom Boom Room co-owner Patrick O’Loughlin, who previously owned the property, said his lease ends in September and is unlikely to be renewed.

“The fact is, he [Udvar-Hazy] has gone up on the rent,” O’Loughlin said. “It just doesn’t economically make sense to keep paying it.”

O’Loughlin said he has been actively looking outside of Orange County for different locations for the Boom Boom Room for the past year, and it’s difficult to find a similar space. He said he has viewed properties in San Diego and Los Angeles counties, as well as in Palm Springs.

Gay tourism in Laguna Beach will definitely be affected by the closure of the Boom Boom Room, O’Loughlin said.

“Having said that, gay tourism has diminished up to now mostly because of the expense of going to Laguna,” he said. “It’s become very expensive to go to Laguna and stay overnight and so forth. But, certainly, once the Boom closes, I don’t think Laguna will be a gay destination at all.”

Karger compared Laguna Beach’s declining gay tourism to Santa Barbara’s, which he said used to be a gay destination.

“Santa Barbara in the ’70s and even in the ’80s had a big anchor bar called The Pub, and a couple other bars and clubs and restaurants and everything, and one by one they closed,” he said. “… I’m afraid that could repeat itself in Laguna Beach. Now there’s not one gay bar in Santa Barbara.”

In Laguna Beach, there is a two-block area where most gay businesses are located, including other cafés, coffee shops and a gay beach on West Street. Currently, there is another small gay bar called Bounce, formally called Main Street. Woody’s at the Beach is another landmark gay restaurant and bar.

“I’m not suggesting that everyone who comes to Laguna, who happens to be gay, goes out to a bar and club. It draws a lot of us who live here because there’s a gay community,” Karger said.

Laguna Beach Mayor Steve Dicterow said he thinks the Save the Boom campaign is a “wonderful effort” and hopes they can succeed, but since the club resides on private property, the city cannot tell Udvar-Hazy how to use the land.

“It’s not a city-owned property and not anything the city has any jurisdiction [over] with respect to preserving a use,” he said. “We’ve had that occur in the past where we’ve tried, and short of actually having enough money to buy the property from the person, the city doesn’t have much control. Certainly we have control over what a future use would be, but as far as preserving an existing use, we don’t have the legal authority to go to a landlord and say, ‘keep that use in place.’”

Dicterow said if the Boom Boom Room were to move to a similar location with a current liquor, dancing, and food and beverage license, then the licenses are grandfathered in. If the business moves to a location such as an art gallery that does not currently hold those types of licenses, then the business owners would have to go through an approval process.

Karger said that process would be lengthy and complicated if O’Loughlin decides to move the business to another location within Laguna Beach.

“That would be a logical approach because, obviously, there is a demand and the Boom Boom Room still does a big business, but the liquor licensing and zoning and parking become a huge problem,” he said. “… Everything becomes very, very complicated and restricted.”

For more information about the Save the Boom campaign, visit www.savetheboom .com.