Zoned out.

• Author: Gillespie, Nick
• Position: California zoning laws' effect on TV show Beverly Hills 90210

A local ruling may have broad implications.

THE PROBLEMS THAT BEVERLY HILLS 90210 grapples with usually revolve around adolescent angst and teenage trauma. Last fall, however, the Fox network television show had to wrestle with the somewhat more adult world of zoning laws. A recent Southern California court decision denied 90210 a permit to film on location because the site was zoned for noncommerical activity.

The show' s producers, Aaron Spelling Productions, hoped to continue using a private home in Hermosa Beach, a beachfront community just south of Los Angeles, as a setting. The show had previously filmed at the location three times, and the new season's plot had several characters moving into a large, three-story house next to the beach.

Spelling Productions applied for and received a one-day filming permit from Hermosa Beach's City Council, but neighbors, upset at the disturbances they felt the activity would cause, went to court to block the filming before it began. A local newspaper, The Beach Reporter, quoted one resident as saying, "No matter how considerate these...