FROM EYECANDY TO EYESORE
Chula Vista begins clearing former bayfront strip club, closed after a legal battle with city over a zoning violation
Efforts began Monday to clear the site of a former strip club that sat on prime real estate on Chula Vista’s bayfront.
The building on Bay Boulevard has been vacant since 2015 after a Superior Court judge ordered EyeCandy Showgirls to shut its doors because the club violated the city’s zoning and building codes.
After Anthony’s Fish Grotto closed in 2011, EyeCandy took over the property in October 2012 and opened an all-nude strip club.
City officials were under the impression, however, that the business would offer a different form of entertainment, said Councilmember Jill Galvez, whose District 2 includes the property.
“The applicant came along and said they were going to open a comedy club on the bayfront and they skirted Chula Vista Municipal Code by calling themselves an adult entertainment venue but then it opened as a strip club,” said Galvez.
On its license, the business had falsely stated it would operate as a comedy club and restaurant, serv
Don’t expect to always see her in the traditional astronaut-like white beekeeper suit. She is a bit of a bee fashionista.
She changes it up, wearing beekeeper garb created with colorful fabrics and whimsical designs of flowers and bees, just as medical workers have jazzed up their drab hospital scrubs.
To keep pace with demand, she recently had to build a shipping shed in her backyard where she could handle orders for books, clothing and other bee paraphernalia she sells online.
But I digress. May 20 was official World Bee Day. That may not resonate with everyone, but it is sacred to Comvita, a company that bottles highly prized Manuka Honey from New Zealand. Bees make honey with the pollen of manuka trees, known for their medicinal properties.
Comvita set a goal of saving 10 million bees globally this year, double the number it committed to save in 2021 when the campaign originated. It has enlisted Kearney again this year, along with seven other professional beekeepers, to help with its rescue mission.
“Climate issues have been causing bees to perish at a staggering rate for several years. A 50 percent
decline in bee colonies in the United States has negatively impacted our ecosystem and the world’s food supply,” according to a statement from Comvita’s North American base in Santa Barbara.
This decline is fueled by several factors: climate change, loss of food due to changes in weather and habitat, viruses, parasites, pesticides and wildfires. So Comvita is targeting at-risk wild hives and relocating them to places where they can thrive.
Kearney is a pro at removing and moving hives. She averages 60 to 90 colony relocations a year but is scheduling 20 more this year for the Comvita rescue project.
She doesn’t just move the hives to a more hospitable location. She transfers
them to the properties of her colleagues, friends and students, and checks in on them for at least a year to ensure each hive and its queen bee are thriving.
Over the years, Kearney has been summoned to relocate hives from under sheds and roof eves. She has also been tasked with removing them from hollow garden statues, from inside the hull of a boat, from a jet ski, from outdoor furniture and compost bins. In October, she removed one from a Halloween ceramic jack-o’lantern. She also removed bees about to colonize in the tower of the Museum of Man in Balboa Park.
Has she been stung? Hundreds of times. In fact, she says her body is almost immune to bee stings now. She wears protective equipment but opts for less protective
latex gloves that allow her more dexterity in opening the hives in search of the elusive queen bee — the key to relocation.
If the queen is dead or dying, Kearney replaces it with a healthy queen of the same species purchased from a queen bee breeding specialist. The displaced queen is then immortalized in resin and crafted into a pendant or pin by a jewelrymaking friend.
In honor of World Bee Day, Comvita, the purveyor of Manuka Honey, is offering 25 percent discounts on all of its products throughout May on www.comvita.com.
Kearney doesn’t have a special celebration, however: “For me, every day is bee day.”