Restaurant District Mushrooms as L.A. Ponders Ill Effects

Over the past decade, restaurant executives independently surveyed the northwest San Fernando Valley and came to the same conclusion: There was a shortage of eating places in the fast-growing Northridge-Chatsworth area.

Like lemmings rushing to the sea, all scrambled to locate in the same area south of the Northridge Fashion Center.

The result was the overnight development of an unofficial restaurant zone that city planners say rivals in size such long-established restaurant districts as Westwood and La Cienega Boulevard north of Wilshire Boulevard.

The opening of six more eateries in recent months brings to 42 the number of restaurants within four blocks of the Northridge shopping center. All but a few are sit-down restaurants, several with room for more than 200 diners.

Clustering Effect

“It’s the same clustering effect you see with other businesses that benefit by being together,” said city planner Al Landini, “except that it’s an extreme case.”

Restaurant managers said business has been good, although several predicted that the area cannot for long sustain 42 restaurants. And some are nervously eyeing several more eating places scheduled to open soon.

Though accustomed to dealing with rapid growth in the West Valley, city officials say that Northridge’s restaurant district could be a case of too much, too quickly.

Efforts are under way to change traffic signals on Nordhoff Street to accommodate the crush of noontime motorists seeking to make a left turn onto Nordhoff or Tampa Avenue.

And the unprecedented clustering of restaurants dependent on patrons who drive has triggered another City Council attempt to impose tighter parking requirements on future restaurants, with the goal of forcing them to spread out.

No Zoning Discussion

On the other hand, city officials said there has been no discussion of changing zoning laws to exclude restaurants from some commercial zones. Landini said that, at present, they are permitted in all major commercial zones, “but of course the assumption is there will be a variety of uses moving into any single commercially zoned area, not a concentration of one use like you find in Northridge.”

As befits the West Valley, where housing tracts and franchised businesses have long been dominant, almost all of the eating places are owned or franchised by restaurant chains.

The proliferation of chain outlets led one newspaper’s restaurant critic to jokingly suggest that Northridge should have a sign proclaiming, “Chains only. Independents need not apply.”

Family Oriented

As further befits the Valley, most are family oriented, moderately priced restaurants. Only a few aspire to meet the standards of gourmands, and those that do avoid the price tags of $20 per dinner and up that many Ventura Boulevard and Westside diners accept without complaint.

The top end of the price spectrum is typified by such highly advertised chain outlets as Stuart Anderson’s Black Angus Restaurant, Victoria Station, Breakers Seafood Company and El Torito Restaurant and Cantina.

The mid-range field appears to be the most competitive, including Flakey Jake’s, Marie Callender Pie Shop, Fuddruckers, Coco’s Family Restaurant, Baker’s Square and Jolly Roger Restaurant.

A scattering of fast-food outlets rounds out the low end of the price range.

By all accounts, the rapidly growing industrial area of Chatsworth west of the fashion center was a prime factor in the development of the restaurant district.

High-Tech Firms

Restaurant officials saw dozens of small- and medium-sized high-technology firms moving to Chatsworth and deduced that there would be hordes of office workers seeking a place to eat lunch or to unwind after work over cocktails and hors d’oeuvres.

They appear to have been right.

All managers interviewed said they were getting a chunk of the white-collar trade from nearby plants and offices.

Gary Ferguson, manager of the Good Earth on Nordhoff, which opened two months ago, said the largest source of patrons for his restaurant is the nearby Teledyne Systems Co.

“I can’t figure out where they ate before,” he said.

In June, after only 30 days in business, Teledyne patronage helped push his 300-seat restaurant’s gross receipts ahead of half a dozen other Good Earth Restaurants in its sales region, which includes the Valley and Westside, Ferguson said.

Was Worried

Mike Olson, manager of Solley’s Restaurant & Delicatessen on Nordhoff, which opened four years ago, said he was worried when he observed the latest wave of new restaurants.

Because a lot of the newer restaurants are heavy advertisers, Olson said he was worried that Solley’s, which does not advertise, would be at a disadvantage.

“But I think it worked just the opposite,” he said. “The new restaurants brought in more diners, and many of them tried us and became our patrons. Even with 42 restaurants going, our business seems to be better than ever.”

But Olson was among managers who predicted that, within a year or two, “some restaurants will gain strength and some will fall by the wayside. It just doesn’t seem that all of them will survive.”

While most managers say they are smiling at better-than-expected patronage, the bonanza of restaurants has given city traffic engineers a headache.

Tom Swire, a city transportation engineering associate, said noontime traffic volumes now are close to rush-hour traffic counts on Tampa and Nordhoff.

He said the increase in left turns has led traffic planners to reluctantly recommend that the signals at the intersection of Nordhoff and Tampa be altered to provide two left-turn lanes in each of four directions.

Slower Through Traffic

The lanes would be governed by left-turn arrows, and through traffic would be forced to stop whenever the arrows were green.

Exclusive turn signals slow down through traffic, Swire said, and planners try to avoid them except where unusually large numbers of vehicles are making left turns.

The move to tighten parking rules was launched by City Councilman Hal Bernson, who represents Northridge and Chatsworth.

A month ago, Bernson introduced legislation that would require new restaurants throughout the city to provide one parking space for each 50 square feet of restaurant space.

At present, restaurants are only required to provide one space per 500 square feet of floor space, the same rule that applies to all major commercial uses, including stores and offices.

Bernson acknowledged that many of the Northridge restaurants have voluntarily provided enough spaces to meet the proposed restriction, but he said those that have not are responsible for much of the street congestion.

Only a Handful of Complaints

While he has received only a handful of complaints from constituents about the restaurant clustering in Northridge, Bernson said he took the action “because I’ve observed the problem myself, just driving around.”

He predicted that the restaurant industry would “fight my proposal, just like they have in the past when others made similar motions.”

He cited as an example of “ridiculous” planning a mini-shopping center on the northwest corner of Nordhoff and Corbin Avenue.

The center has 28 parking spaces for 10 businesses, including two restaurants. The center “apparently meets all the city requirements for parking,” Bernson said, “so there is something wrong with the requirements.”

A spokesman for the center’s leasing agent declined comment.

Bernson’s motion has been referred to the council’s Planning Committee, which is expected to schedule hearings later this summer.

No Special Requirements

Gurdon Miller, a city planner who has provided research reports during previous council debates on restaurant parking, said Los Angeles is the only major city in Southern California that does not impose a special parking requirement on restaurants.

“One per 50 square feet is pretty much standard,” he said.

In September, 1983, when the council last defeated a move to impose parking requirements on restaurants, many restaurant chains and the California Restaurant Assn. were in agreement on one space per 75 square feet, Miller said.

Richard DeVitis, the association’s director of operations, said no decision has been made as to what stand to take on Bernson’s motion.

One who sees little need for change in the Northridge restaurant district is Diane Shear, executive vice president of the Northridge Chamber of Commerce.

“Business is excellent at these restaurants,” she said. “They are well designed and well planned restaurants and they are quickly giving our community a reputation as a dining center for the Valley.”