California: The land of "Don't"

LOS ANGELES — “Whatever it is, I’m against it!” Groucho Marx sang in a 1932 picture filmed on the Paramount lot here.

Today’s Southern Californians seem to agree.

Once known for its sunny, freewheeling disposition — a live-and-let-live sensibility rooted in Western ideals and relied upon by generations of surfer dudes and misbehaving Hollywood stars — this region has long been as regulated as anywhere. Lately, however, cities, school districts and even libraries have been outlawing chunks of what used to pass here for birthright at a startling clip.

Bonfires on the beach? Sorry, Gidget: Newport Beach is waiting for permission from the California Coastal Commission to remove its long-cherished fire pits, which it banned this summer as health hazards. Newport’s fleet of diesel-burning yachts are still O.K., but napping in the city’s libraries? Forbidden, as of July, along with any “use of perfume or fragrance” that interferes with librarians’ “ability to perform duties.”

The Los Angeles Unified School District, bowing to pressure from ecologically-minded sixth graders, two weeks ago banned plastic foam trays in cafeterias. On Tuesday, California’s Legislature passed a ban on psychotherapy aimed at making gay teenagers straight; the ban was proposed by a state senator from Redondo Beach and is believed to be the first of its kind. On Wednesday, the Legislature forbade the carrying of rifles in public.

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