Noise, Parking Problems Cited at Zoning Hearing : Neighbors Oppose Dancing Permit for Great Greek

Waiters who performed Greek folk dances at a city zoning hearing Monday did little to convince Sherman Oaks homeowners that a restaurant in their neighborhood should be granted a permit to allow dancing.

“The Great Greek restaurant could not survive without this dance,” yelled restaurant owner Ernie Criezis after applauding the demonstration. “It’s more important than food. It’s something in the Greek soul.”

Dancing has been part of the restaurant’s fare since it opened 5 years ago. But neither it nor another Criezis-owned establishment several blocks west on Ventura Boulevard--Moonlight Tango Cafe--have permits for dancing. Criezis said that he applied for the permits recently after he discovered that he needed official approval for the entertainment.

In a 2-hour hearing Monday during which tempers flared regularly, neighbors said they had nothing against the dancing. They said they object to the noise and parking problems generated by the popular restaurant.

January Decision

Associate Zoning Administrator John J. Parker said he would not make a decision on the application until January because of a backlog of cases.

The Great Greek has become “perhaps a little too successful . . . for its site,” said John Allen, a member of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn.

Allen’s wife, Bennie, said the noise of restaurant revelers and of employees fetching cars has led her to install special acoustical windows in her bedroom. She said a permit for dancing would make the restaurant even more popular.

“I think they will advertise more, and I think that will increase the problems we already have,” she said.

However, Criezis said that the neighbors have not proven that their problems relate to his restaurant. There are six other restaurants in the 13300 block of Ventura Boulevard, he said.

“They’re blaming it all on us, and that’s not fair,” Criezis said after the hearing at the Van Nuys Woman’s Club.

Photographs of Waiters

Karen Blackwell, a planning consultant hired by Criezis, produced a poster board covered with photographs of waiters in traditional black-and-white uniforms. When neighbors see a man dressed that way parking cars on their streets, they assume he is an employee of The Great Greek, she said. The Great Greek’s liquor license forbids employees from parking cars on neighborhood streets.

Although employees also wear such uniforms at The Great Greek, none of the men pictured worked at the restaurant, she said.

Blackwell said that inside their pay envelopes, employees are warned that if they are caught parking cars on residential streets, they will be fired.

But the neighbors brought their own photographs, which showed a man in a waiter’s uniform parking a car on a neighborhood street near the restaurant, then later in the day moving the car to The Great Greek employee parking lot.

The Great Greek relies on the lots of surrounding businesses to park patrons’ cars in the evenings.

Permit Opposed

Julie Jaskol, a spokeswoman for Councilman Mike Woo, said Woo opposes the dancing permit. Jaskol said that besides the parking problems, the city has evidence that The Great Greek has ignored its 119-person occupancy limit, citing spot inspection reports from the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Fire Department Capt. John Walters confirmed that the restaurant twice has been closed for exceeding its limit, most recently Oct. 7. The Moonlight Tango also was cited earlier this year, but Walters said neither restaurant “overcrowds on a regular basis.”

But Woo supports the dance permit for the Moonlight Tango, which was discussed at a public hearing before Parker a week ago, Jaskol said. Problems there have been manageable, she said.