‘If my patrons are committing such atrocities, it is due to a lack of understanding of culture.’ Cesar Valdez, San Fernando bar owner : San Fernando Bar to Be Closed as Threat

A San Fernando bar, which police described as “reminiscent of the cowboy West, with brawls, shooting and people rolling out drunk,” will be shut by the end of the month by city officials who have decided that it is a threat to community safety.

The five-member City Council unanimously agreed Monday that Cesar’s Place, 2020 1st St., is violating its city conditional-use permit because of random shootings, fights, public drunkenness and traffic accidents that police said regularly occur there.

The council ordered the city attorney to draft a resolution to revoke the permit, which stipulates that the bar not become a public nuisance or create more than ordinary police problems.

Racial Overtones

The decision to revoke the permit, thereby forcing the bar to close, came after an hourlong public hearing that took on racial overtones when the bar owner, a Latino, suggested that a clash of cultures was at fault.

During the hearing, five police officers and several nearby business owners told of violent incidents at the bar within the last year.

Lt. Don Rivetti, acting San Fernando police chief, said officers had handled at least 30 serious incidents related to the bar in the last year, including:

An assault on Aug. 24, in which a man? victim was beaten with a pool cue and beer bottles, then dropped off at the steps of a nearby ambulance company by bar patrons. No one from the bar called police during the beating, Rivetti testified.

A fight that began inside the bar Dec. 5 and apparently ended when one man struck another with his car outside the bar. Officer Mark Shanahan testified that the driver was attempting to run over the man a second time when he arrived.

An accident in which a man, apparently drunk, staggered from the bar Oct. 4 and was hit by a truck. He later died of his injuries, Sgt. Rico Castro testified.

“Clearly, we are at a point where we can’t control what goes on in the bar without assigning an officer to it 24 hours a day,” Rivetti told the council.

Castro, the night watch commander, said the nightly activities at the bar remind him of a scene from a Western cowboy saloon.

“Maybe the marshals back then could have handled this,” he said. “But our department cannot.”

Cesar Valdez, 36, of North Hollywood, who owns the bar with his wife, Virginia, did not deny that violent incidents had occurred there.

But he said he believes that the incidents have been “grossly exaggerated” by the predominantly Anglo police and city officials, who he said do not understand Latino culture. He suggested that the problems at his bar stem from tensions among different groups.

He said neither he nor anyone else should be held accountable for what happens at the bar.

“There is friction between Central Americans and Mexicans, Mexicans and Mexican-Americans,” Valdez told the council. “The reason there is so much shock is because we are talking about two different cultures. If there was more intermingling between cultures, perhaps you would be more understanding.

“If, in fact, my patrons are committing such atrocities--and there are some doing some things--it is due to a lack of understanding of culture.”

Valdez’s comments prompted an angry response from Councilman Jess Margarito, the only Latino council member in the city, where Latinos make up more than 70% of the population.

“I consider that an insult,” Margarito said. “I reject that statement that somehow the culture of Latinos is related to violence. So don’t try and deal with that issue of culture when that is not the theme on the table. The issue here is public safety.

“Don’t play those games with me, either on the council or in the public that this is a cultural trait of Latinos.”

Anger at Councilmen

Margarito was also angered by previous comments of two Anglo city councilmen who agreed with Valdez’s argument about cultural differences.

“Although there may be a cultural difference,” said Mayor Doude Wysbeek, “I think we have an obligation to create a safe environment for those who are our gardeners, our dishwashers.”

“I do agree with Mr. Valdez as far as the culture,” said Councilman James Hansen. “But I feel it is not our responsibility to provide entertainment for people in any culture who go out and look for recreation with a loaded gun.”