Universal’s Neighbors Fire Back at A-Team Salvos

Gunfire erupts in Universal City, followed by a series of explosions and the roar of a dune buggy.

The fight has begun on the set of the “A-Team Live Action Show” at Universal Studios Tour, where stunt men playing Mr. T and other members of his commando unit battle a group of bad guys, much as the characters do in the popular television program “The A-Team.” The mock fighting ends after about 20 minutes, and the crowd cheers as the last blast from a steam-powered bazooka fades away.

These days, however, not everyone is cheering.

Angered by noise from the show, a group of homeowners living across from Universal City in the Cahuenga Pass is waging a battle of its own, claiming the gunfire and explosions disrupt the hillside neighborhood and violate city and county noise limits.

“It sounds like World War II revisited,” said Henry Guttman, a dentist who lives on nearby Bonnie Hill Drive. “It’s just not a responsible thing for them to do. You try to get a little rest and then, all of a sudden, the explosions start up.”

Los Angeles city and county noise regulation officials insist that sound from Universal’s A-Team attraction is within the legal limit.

But next month they will take another reading in response to a report by a noise expert hired by the homeowners that claims the show is illegally loud, said Officer Clarence Massar of the Los Angeles Police Department’s noise enforcement team.

Homeowners contend that noise from the show, which includes the firing of 200 rounds of ammunition and 35 explosions, has been a problem since the summer of 1984, when the stunt show began at the entertainment center just east of the Hollywood Freeway. The sounds cross the freeway and “rattle our homes all the way up the hill” past Mulholland Drive, said homeowner Sandra Martin, one of the leaders of Universal City Neighbors Assn., which claims 1,500 members.

“Our windows rattle, our pets and children go hysterical and it’s just profoundly disturbing our neighborhood,” Martin said.

The homeowners have signed petitions demanding an end to the explosions and have taken their case to the city attorney’s office, which has done an extensive investigation but has declined to take the case to court, Deputy City Atty. Keith W. Pritsker said.

“I really sympathize with those people because they’re frustrated and angry and do have a problem,” Pritsker said. “They are not just a bunch of crackpots on a hill . . . but the case is just too thin.”

Anthony Sauber, vice president of Universal’s recreation division, said the company has taken steps to respond to complaints about the show, which is performed two to seven times a day, depending on the time of year.

Sauber said Universal hired its own noise consultant, whose conclusions match those of city and county officials. Nevertheless, to appease the hillside residents, Sauber said, Universal lowered the charge in guns and canons used in the show and redirected the explosions away from the residential neighborhood.

“We’re within the law and, quite frankly, we’ve been acting as good neighbors,” Sauber said. “When you really get down to it, we’ve got a paying audience, and if we just had little flags coming out of the guns that said ‘bang,’ that wouldn’t be too exciting.”

The main obstacle facing the residents in their fight with Universal, officials said, is that their neighborhood is loud in general--with or without the A-Team antics.

For example, the Hollywood Freeway, one of the busiest thoroughfares in the nation, makes a “dull roar” throughout the day, and airplanes from Burbank and Van Nuys airports add to the din, Officer Massar said.

Such “ambient,” or background, noises have to be taken into consideration during noise readings, officials said. Although the A-Team explosions may at times be louder than the background noises, they generally “merge in with all the other sounds in the area,” said Richard Dennerline, head of the Los Angeles County occupational health department.

“The whole area is just a flyway for noises,” Dennerline said, “and, while the bursts of gunfire and explosions may peak out above the ambient . . . it does so for so short a time that there’s nothing against the law.”

‘You Think Trouble’

Ted Flicker, a novelist who lives on Floyd Drive, said he and his neighbors are bothered not merely by the decibel level, but also by the nature of the sound.

“We’re talking about gunfire here, not just noise,” Flicker said. “When you hear a gun, you think trouble, big trouble, and gunfire has become part of our daily existence.”

This is not the first time that Universal has come under fire for noise from Universal City. In 1979, the company decided to put a roof over the Universal Amphitheatre, in part because of complaints from neighbors about noise from concerts there.

Pritsker said he doesn’t foresee such a solution for the A-Team show.

‘Big Can of Worms’

“It’s just a big can of worms. These homeowners are making a big hullabaloo for good reason,” the deputy city attorney said. “They have expensive homes and have to live with that kind of racket. But there simply aren’t many solutions.”

Pritsker said he is advising residents to seek special legislation and to attend state hearings in March when Universal’s license to discharge firearms comes up for renewal.

Some of the homeowners seem to be resigned to a future with stunt-show sounds.

“It’s just unbearable for us, but sometimes you get the feeling that the show must go on,” Guttman said.