Transients’ Hangout May Lose Liquor License : Owner Says L.B. Bar Getting a Bum Rap

They begin arriving at 6 a.m.

Middle-aged men in need of shaves. Young men with duffel bags and bewildered expressions. Women who look like they haven’t slept in days.

They come for the beer. For the doughnuts and coffee. For the hot meals at $1.25.

They are the unemployed, the transient, the down-and-out. And they come to Chili Don’s in downtown Long Beach because they say it is one of the last places in town where they still feel welcome.

‘They Won’t Bother You’

“If it wasn’t for this place, I doubt that I’d be alive right now,” said Bill Stunt, 31, an unemployed painter who said he sleeps “anywhere and everywhere” and spends much of the rest of his time hanging out at Chili Don’s. “Other bars you can’t go into. Here you can sit all day and they won’t bother you.”

All that may be coming to an end.

The state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control has accused Chili Don’s of violating the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act by operating a disorderly house. The ABC is seeking revocation or suspension of the bar’s license to sell alcoholic beverages.

And if the bar loses its liquor license, said owner Don Perry, Chili Don’s--a veritable institution on Long Beach Boulevard that the management says is frequented by transients from throughout the Western states--will become a thing of the past.

“They’re trying to change the city’s image,” said Chili Don’s manager, John Holtman. “They want nothing but prize people down here.”

By “they,” Holtman and Perry mean primarily the Long Beach Police Department. Although Chili Don’s is in the downtown redevelopment area, redevelopment officials say they have no immediate plans for the block in which it is located.

But for the past two years, Holtman said, police have systematically harassed his customers, a charge the police deny. “They’re pulling three to four people out of here a night,” said Holtman, adding that business at night is down 20% to 30% as a result. “Customers are afraid to come in.”

The usual modus operandi , Holtman said, is for two officers to enter the establishment several times a night, shine their flashlights in people’s faces and order one or more randomly selected patrons out onto the street for questioning and possible arrest.

Attention Resented

“Most of the people cited are not actually disorderly,” Holtman maintained. Although conceding that some of the arrested patrons are drunk, he objects to what he sees as an unequal application of the law. “How many times a night do the police go into the Hilton?” he asked. “If they’re going to do this to us, why not the hotels and other bars?”

A Police Department spokesman denied that police officers enter Chili Don’s unnecessarily.

“We go there only when called upon to do so or when we have cause,” said Lt. Jim Reed, Long Beach station commander. Generally, he said, visits to bars are prompted by reports of unruly behavior or illegal activities such as narcotics violations. “Chili Don’s receives no more attention than any other place,” Reed said.

113 Incidents Cited

Yet the state action filed against Chili Don’s in September cites 113 separate incidents in a 28-month period in which police arrested individuals for allegedly remaining in the bar while “in an intoxicated condition and unable to exercise care for his (or her) own safety or the safety of others.”

A second count lists 29 cases in which people were arrested in front of or near the bar on charges ranging from public drunkenness to obstructing the sidewalk.

Such arrests, said Phil Henry, supervising special investigator for the ABC’s Long Beach district office, are entirely at the discretion of the arresting police officer.

“As soon as you have your first beer, you are publicly intoxicated,” he said, “but you are not in violation of the law until you lose your ability to exercise care.”

Unusual Police Role

It is interesting, Henry said, that virtually every complaint came to the attention of his office via the Police Department. Although at least 50% of the cases in which the ABC files accusations come to its attention via police, he said, this particular case is remarkable in the sheer number of arrests involved. “It is unusual that there were so many incidents and we didn’t make any of the arrests ourselves,” Henry said.

Police reports, which do not indicate whether arresting officers were summoned to the scene or came on their own initiative, continue to flow in at an extraordinary rate, Henry said. “In 15 years, I can only think of two or three other premises we’ve filed on that have had this extreme number of drunk arrests,” he said. “I am not aware of any other place in Long Beach that has had the number of public drunk arrests that this place has had.”

Hearing in August

As a consequence, he said, a second administrative accusation may be filed against Chili Don’s following resolution of the first.

A hearing on the matter begun before an administrative law judge in March is scheduled to resume Aug. 12. If the bar appeals, Henry said, ultimate resolution of the case could take one to two years.

In the meantime, life at Chili Don’s continues.

Lisa Wood, a 22-year-old student who said she recently broke up with her husband and has no regular income, said she eats most of her meals there. “The food is good and inexpensive,” she said, shortly after the bartender cashed a check for her, which she said was a donation from a relative.

‘I’m Known Here’

Lauvis Young, 30, an unemployed bus driver, arrives at the place every morning at 7:30. “I’m welcome here on a nickname basis,” he explained. “I’m known here.”

Of course, there is a darker side to life among the transients. On a recent weekday afternoon in the bar, a heroin addict was desperately seeking $10 for a fix. And numerous patrons arrived eager to spend on beer the $8 they had just earned from donating their blood to the plasma center next door.

Holtman admits that Chili Don’s has at times attracted drug users and prostitutes. But rules against illegal activities on the premises are strictly enforced, he said. ABC officials say they have no record of any narcotics or vice arrests at the site.

And though the sale of beer is a major source of income, owner Perry says the inexpensive food is closer to his heart.

Relates to Poor People

“I know what it’s like being broke,” said Perry, 59, who started Chili Don’s nine years ago after 16 years in the insurance business. A native of Arkansas, he said he grew up in a poor family. “I can relate to people being poor and in need,” he said. “The people who are against me can’t.”

So he sells his customers coffee and a doughnut for 40 cents. And he offers a regular menu ranging from a 60-cent hot dog to a $2.20 chicken salad sandwich. A recent daily special--they sell for $1.25 was tomato, macaroni and ground beef with bread, celery and carrots.

If Chili Don’s closes, said Perry, its patrons will simply scatter among the other establishments in the area.

“They’ll have to go somewhere,” he said. “Those people aren’t just going to go away.”

Regarding his own future, the bar owner is fatalistic. “I may go back into the insurance business,” he said.

Then he paused before capping the statement with a hint of the indignation he said he feels. “I know they’re going to get me,” Perry sighs. “I just don’t like being dragged out of town on a rail.”