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Monday, May 08, 2000
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
HANDS OFF
A repair shop owner grapples against an eviction effort brought by his landlord.
By Mike Zapler
Review-Journal
It's 1 o'clock on a Tuesday afternoon at the Allstate Auto & Marine, and the phones are ringing off the hook. "Buffalo" Jim Barrier, the repair shop's gruff but gregarious owner and a part-time wrestling promoter, breaks away from business just long enough to enter an office that looks as if a tornado just struck.
A longtime customer bypasses the front counter and steps into the room, where the walls are lined with pictures of famous wrestlers and bikini-clad women, and a garbage can overflows with Kentucky Fried Chicken bones. Random items are scattered about: a broken computer here, a jar of Jif peanut butter there, a 4-foot-high oxygen tank smack in the middle.
"Did you bring me some money, honey?" Barrier asks the customer, whose name is Michael but whom Barrier calls "The Bear" (he has a nickname for just about everyone). The man, who happens to be entertainer Wayne Newton's bodyguard, whips out a roll of bills and hands a few to Barrier.
As national auto repair chains sprout throughout Las Vegas, Barrier's Auto & Marine is local to the core. Barrier, 47, met many of his customers decades ago, when the mob was alive and well and Binion's Horseshoe was considered cutting edge.
But a dark cloud looms over Barrier's Industrial Road business of 22 years. After a long and harmonious relationship with his landlord, Barrier says Schiff Properties has suddenly turned against him. He suspects that his next-door neighbor, topless club Crazy Horse Too, is using Schiff to obtain his space for more parking or possibly an expansion -- an allegation that a source associated with club owner Rick Rizzolo denied.
"Man, this is so unjust," said Barrier, who has nine years remaining on his lease. "Just leave me alone, that's all I want."
Schiff in mid-April filed a cease and desist notice against Barrier, claiming his repair shop had become a public nuisance, with inoperable vehicles blocking traffic and fire lanes, and large ugly signs littering the strip mall just north of the Sahara Avenue overpass.
"He is creating a nuisance," said Valarie Fujii, Schiff Properties' attorney. "We have pictures of vehicles just sitting around, not registered, taking up parking spaces. He has definitely outgrown his space."
Said Barrier: "Valarie Fujii knows nothing about nothing. I am not a nuisance. I am in compliance, and I intend to stay that way."
What problems may have existed have been resolved, Barrier said. The store mascot, a 14-foot-high faux buffalo, was moved off-site, he said. And all vehicles have been registered and stored away from the flow of traffic, he added.
The irony of the situation, Barrier contends, is that Crazy Horse Too is guilty of the very violations he's been accused of. If you're looking for a fire hazard or blocked traffic, he said, show up to the strip club on a Friday night, when cars are crammed into the mall and other stores' customers can't get out.
"It's pretty easy to see who's blocking the place up," Barrier said.
Fujii said Schiff Properties, which owns the Crazy Horse Too building, hasn't investigated possible lease violations by Rizzolo. But she said the landlord would "look at every tenant equally."
Barrier contends that the eviction effort is a ruse to disguise the real goal: clearing out his space so Rizzolo, who also leases from Schiff Properties, can take it over. The rent payments for a topless bar are substantially higher than for a car shop, Barrier notes.
Rizzolo did not return calls for comment. But Fujii said the club owner "has not made any proposals, formally or informally, regarding expansion into that property." Fujii does not represent Crazy Horse Too.
It would not be the first time that Schiff Properties has sought to evict a tenant next to an adult business. Last year, Schiff Properties attempted to void a lease on property occupied by the Spearmint Rhino strip club. The action took place around the same time as a merger of the exotic dance establishment with an adjacent tavern into one large topless bar.
In 1998, Rizzolo expanded Crazy Horse Too into the adjacent L.A. Hot, a former novelty shop with adult merchandise that the city of Las Vegas -- led by Councilman Michael McDonald, a close friend of Rizzolo's -- attempted to shut down for alleged violations of the zoning code. L.A. Hot's owner abandoned the store before the city's disciplinary action was complete, clearing the way for Crazy Horse Too.
The current eviction case was scheduled to go to Clark County District Court today but has been rescheduled until late May, Fujii and Barrier said. Barrier said he intends to ask for a jury trial; Fujii believes the matter should be decided by a judge.
A former pro wrestler featured in the current issue of Ringside Wrestling magazine, Barrier is no stranger to histrionics. But the eviction effort, the father of four children said, is deadly serious.
"I've been here 22 years," Barrier said. "My whole life is invested in this place."
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Printable version of this story
"Buffalo" Jim Barrier, owner of Allstate Auto & Marine, is trying to fend off an eviction by his landlord, Schiff Properties. He suspects that the neighboring Crazy Horse Too wants his space, although to date the strip club has made no formal proposal to acquire the property.
Photo by K.M. Cannon.
In addition to his auto repair shop, "Buffalo" Jim Barrier owns a wrestling school and works as a wrestling promoter. His Buffalo Wrestling Federation is located in the same strip mall on Industrial Road as his auto shop and Crazy Horse Too.
Photo by K.M. Cannon.
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