SAN DIEGO, CA — George Isbell Jr. has been waiting since 1997 to know for sure whether keeping his business open was against the law or not. Last weekend, U.S. District Court Chief Judge Irma Gonzalez assured him — and the city of San Diego — that the past eight years of business-as-usual were and will continue to be entirely legal.Efforts by San Diego officials to close down Isbell’s Barrio Logan adult shop had repeatedly been frustrated by courts had granted the G&B Emporium an injunction to remain in operation.
When Isbell purchased the building on Main Street in 1997, his application for a zoning variance met with resistance from city officials determined to enforce a 1,000 foot ordinance stating that adult businesses must be at least that distance from residential areas, schools, public parks, or social welfare institutions.
The city contended that the G&B Emporium violated this ordinance, since there were residences 900 feet away from the business. Isbell’s attorney, Roger Diamond, pointed out that those homes were located on the other side of Interstate 5 and that the city had failed to prove that other businesses in the area that carried adult materials were in compliance.
Judge Gonzalez concluded that the city’s efforts were unconstitutional. Now Isbell can begin the process of recovering the more than $500,000 in legal fees it cost him over the years; a price that the city will be required to pay.
