Red Onion Chain Faces Complaints of Bias in Riverside

The Red Onion Restaurant chain, a target of complaints about alleged racial discrimination at its Santa Ana disco, now faces similar allegations by four people at its Riverside County bar.

A black couple, a Latino and a black woman have filed complaints with the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing, the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People and the American Civil Liberties Union, alleging that the Riverside Red Onion used a double-standard dress code to turn the four away in March.

Rick Maldonado, 32, who went to the Red Onion with his Anglo wife, said he was refused entrance because he did not have a shirt collar under his Italian knit sweater.

“What they’re doing is they have two dress codes. If they want to keep you out, they use one dress code on you,” Maldonado said.

Stephen Solomon, an attorney for the Carson-based restaurant chain, said he was unaware that the four Riverside residents had filed the discrimination complaints.

“We had received some information about their complaints, but I thought the matter had been resolved,” Solomon said.

At least six men have filed similar complaints about the Santa Ana Red Onion with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, which has begun an investigation.

About 50 other similar, but unofficial, complaints have been lodged against the discos, according to Dorothy Davis, the state agency’s regional director . Earlier this week, 25-year-old Samuel Crawford, who is black, filed a $2-million racial discrimination lawsuit against the chain. Crawford said he was not allowed in even after a Santa Ana policeman verified that his tattered driver’s license was legitimate and that he was over 21.

Red Onion officials are scheduled to meet today with Santa Ana City Manger Robert C. Bobb to discuss the complaints and recent allegations by current and former company employees that it was a regular practice to “clean up the crowd” when too many minorities were admitted.

And tonight, Cal State Fullerton students plan a protest in front of the Santa Ana Red Onion.