No-Puffing Law Inspires a Lot of Huffing as the End Nears

The Hour of the Last Puff was drawing near in Nate-n-Al’s on Thursday night and Susan Rosen and the other smokers inside were not happy.

Rosen, a Beverly Hills secretary who recently moved here from New York, said, “Extra ventilation, that’s the answer--not a ban.”

She was referring to the prohibition on smoking in restaurant dining rooms that goes into effect today in Beverly Hills.

“I feel like my civil rights have been taken away,” she said between puffs while waiting for a table at the restaurant on Beverly Drive. “In New York, we have separate sections and extra ventilation. This (the ban) is one of two things wrong with Southern California. The other is, there aren’t enough left turn arrows on traffic signals.”

Rosen said she would never eat at Nate-n-Al’s, one of the best-known delis in Southern California, again.

“It’s unconstitutional,” another potential boycotter, Dena Greensweig, 18, said, “I’ve taken a lot of government classes and I know. One day it’s cigarettes, the next day it’s eating crackers.”

A nearby visitor, Rocky Horowitz, a Kansas City department store owner, asked, “What about gourmet restaurants where it takes them a long time to prepare the food?”

One smoker who doesn’t have the option of staying away from Nate-n-Al’s is Pearl Adoor, the restaurant’s cashier.

“I’ve been smoking since I was 14,” she said. “You think this is going to make me stop? I’ll step outside. And I’ll tell you something else. I used to be very considerate of people when I smoked in restaurants. Now I might not be so considerate.”

Waitress Angry

Waitress Elaine Vis was angry that hotel restaurants have been exempted from the ban, partly on the theory that foreign visitors will not be familiar with the law.

“Why do foreigners get all the privileges?” she asked.

Bartender Sal Guagliano said, “Pretty soon they’ll outlaw smoking salmon.”

Nonsmokers in the restaurant Thursday night were not unanimously in favor of the law.

Arlene Krasner of Encino said, “I haven’t smoked in three years, but I still think they could have separate sections as long as the air conditioning didn’t blow the smoke in my direction.”

Dennis Schwartz, however, hopes that the Beverly Hills ordinance is only the beginning.

“I’m in favor of a nonsmoking ban in the whole world,” he said.

‘Right to Healthy Air’

“People talk about constitutional rights,” Steve Antebi said. “Well, we also have a right to breathe healthy air.”

“The hypocritical thing is, they pass laws like this and then the government continues to subsidize tobacco,” Cy Yedor said.

Restaurant hostess Ruth Kaplan was not sure how much effect the ban would have on business.

“People say they won’t eat here, and maybe some won’t,” she said. “But I think most of them will come back, if only to get food to go.”

“What about the boys?” said waitress Harriet Morton, pointing to the chef. “They all smoke. And so do I. Customers will have to come outside to find me to get their bill.”