LOS ANGELES — Owners of Hollywood nightclubs that cater to blacks and Latinos say the Los Angeles Police Department is making it hard for them to stay in business.

Authorities have shut down seven nightclubs along Hollywood Boulevard over the past several decades, including the Roxbury, Cashmere, Supper Club, and Empire. Now you can add Cosmo to the list.

The club’s operating permit was revoked earlier this year, and a hearing took place Aug. 16 to appeal that ruling.

Cosmo owner Alberto Alvarez pleads his case to the City Council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee at City Hall Aug. 16. (Photo by Tami DeVine)

Club owner Alberto Alvarez, his attorneys and public relations representatives gathered at City Hall along with about a dozen others carrying “Black Hollywood Matters” signs in the Edward R. Roybal hearing room on the third floor of City Hall.

The club’s P.R. team, including Moses Hill and Ivy Bordenave, say they are raising awareness about discrimination taking place at clubs that cater to black and brown people in the Hollywood area.

“There’s a lot of harassment that’s taking place from the police in the Hollywood area,” Hill said. “They’ll come to the clubs and make all the people that are in the clubs walk out of the club and wait three hours to go back into the club. So they’re basically giving the club owners a really difficult time to stay open.”

“Cosmo Nightclub is part of a blacklist of clubs that LAPD is going after in terms of trying to change the face of Hollywood,” Bordenave said. “Where it’s not too many black people and brown people facilitating these clubs.”

Club owner Alvarez and his attorney Michael D. Kolodzi told members of the Planning and Land Use Management Committee of the City Council that they were not given time to remedy the various situations, that they never received any communications like emails or letters from LAPD, and that the state Alcoholic Beverage Control or ABC has not cited Cosmo, although an ABC officer said the club was under investigation.

About the noise complaints the club’s attorney Kolodzi said, “That’s laughable.  It’s Hollywood Boulevard.”

“There’s an element of race here, that needs to be addressed,“ said Kolodzi.

But the city’s zoning administrator, a black woman, had a different interpretation. She read a list of problems at or near Cosmo involving calls to police since 2014 including:

• 24 arrests between Jan. 7, 2015 and April 25, 2016.

• 19 arrest charges between Jan. 9, 2014 and Feb. 27, 2016.

• 12 criminal charges between Oct. 9, 2014 and March 10, 2016.

• And 19 calls for service between May 28, 2014 and March 10, 2016.

The zoning administrator also presented a list of 14 violations of the 36 conditions placed on Cosmo in order to operate including: renting out the facility to promoters, pre-paid admission cover charges, security guards not visible, licensed or in uniform; music, sound and noise audible beyond subject’s site; overcrowding (maximum occupancy is 130 persons); use of an electronic age verification device; conditional use permit conditions form visible at all times; owner or manager following all laws and discouraging criminal activity; all employees involved in the sale of alcoholic beverages going through the LAPD’s STAR training program; the name of property manager listed in a conspicuous place near the entrance and club number to double as a hotline number for the club; hours of operation not to exceed 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily; no after hours use permitted; DJ must remain in the mezzanine area and no public advertisement of DJ; not to be used exclusively for private parties or promotional activities that excludes the public and only 12 private events per year to be permitted.

Members of the LAPD patrol and vice divisions also spoke during the hearing about their calls to the club, saying they have responded to shootings near the club, a stabbing at the club, fights, and arrests of security guards and a bartender for serving a minor, among other alleged club violations.

The officials said ultimately Cosmo put a drain on the LAPD resources and jeopardized the health and safety of the community around the club.

The committee voted to deny the club’s appeal with only one council member opposed to the ruling. Club supporters were visibly disappointed, hugging in the hallway after the committee’s decision.

So what’s next for Cosmo?

“I’d like to keep my club open,” Alvarez said.