The Region - News from April 9, 1987

The Beverly Hills Restaurant Assn. presented a survey to the City Council reporting a 30% drop in the number of customers after Beverly Hills imposed a ban on smoking in restaurants last week. The restaurateurs said the survey of about 30 of the city’s 125 eating establishments supports their contention that the anti-smoking law--first of its kind in the state and only the second in the nation--is already creating severe hardship. Rudy Cole, a spokesman for the association representing 41 restaurant owners, asked the council to rewrite the ordinance to allow restaurants to have “smoke-free sections.” The City Council said the ordinance has not been in effect long enough to determine its effect. Councilman Robert Tanenbaum said the city might reconsider the ordinance if the restaurants could prove that it would result in prolonged loss of business.