The closings are not obligatory, police say, but the masseuses cannot start working again until they retake and pass the test, one of several requirements masseuses and masseurs must meet to obtain licenses in Santa Monica. The tougher massage ordinance, passed in but tied up in the courts until recently, was designed in part to prevent massage parlors from being used as fronts for prostitution, officials said.
Until , regulations in Santa Monica were lax and allowed massage parlors to proliferate, with many allegedly housing prostitution operations, police say. Officials began cracking down in after the number of masseuses and masseurs had reportedly nearly doubled in Santa Monica--with a tougher ordinance that required licensing for those wishing to ply the massage trade. That law was revised in to include the new test and other regulations.
But massage parlor operators fought the ordinance and sued. From the suit sprang a court order requiring the city to offer the test in Korean as well as English, City Atty. Robert Myers said. Tests were administered in Korean, Spanish and English for the first time in October.
Of 51 people who took the test, three men and nine women passed; 39 women failed, Bancroft said. Myers said massage parlor operators again protested but finally lost an attempt last month to obtain a Superior Court injunction that would have blocked the city from telling parlor employees they could not work.
Bancroft said the test was fair and people who signed up to take it were given detailed information beforehand on the kinds of topics that would be covered. The city offers testing every 90 days so that masseuses and masseurs who have failed can retake the exam. Test results were then forwarded to the Santa Monica Police vice division. Two citations were issued to women who were found giving massages without a license. A masseuse at one of the two parlors that remained open said this week that business had not picked up noticeably since the competition closed.
