Paring Off Part of the Partying : Hermosa Beach Cracks Down on Rowdiness, Underage Drinking, After-Hours Noise

About a hundred customers packed into the Lighthouse Cafe in Hermosa Beach around midnight Friday, many dancing to the featured band, Judah Star, a modern reggae group.

Outside the bar, on a one-block stretch of Pier Avenue west of Ocean Boulevard, the sounds of live and recorded music could be heard coming from half a dozen or so clubs and taverns.

Occasionally, revelers would spill out of a bar, sometimes dancing on the sidewalk or shouting an obscene phrase. A few of them carried bottles of beer or wine, sometimes concealed in a brown paper bag.

For the last few months, this area has been the target of a crackdown by the Hermosa Beach Police and Fire departments on underage drinking, high decibel music and bars packed like sardines. City Council members say such enforcement is a long-overdue response to complaints from neighbors and evening shoppers in the area.

Called Intrusive

Bar and restaurant owners, tired of the watchful eye, say the crackdown is an unwarranted political move. Further, they say police and fire officials have been intrusive and have intimidated customers on several occasions.

“Nobody likes to sit in a restaurant having a nice, quiet dinner and have six police officers come through with flashlights and video cameras, followed by council members and the local press,” said John Bowler, the owner of Fat Face Fenner’s Falloon and a spokesman for the Hermosa Beach Restaurant and Tavern Owners Assn.

But Public Safety Director Steve Wisniewski, who oversees the Police and Fire departments, said: “It’s not harassment, in my opinion, to enforce the law. Even if we have 100% compliance, we are still required to go out and see that their compliance is continuing.”

The crackdown started in December, when the Hermosa Beach Police Department stepped up its efforts by sending out teams of underage decoys who attempted to buy alcohol at the businesses.

In July, officials also began sending special impact teams, including high-ranking police and fire officials, to see if businesses are complying with their conditional-use permits, which regulate such things as noise and occupancy.

The stepped-up efforts are a response to complaints from residents and the council that the downtown area has become too rowdy, said Mayor June Williams. In Hermosa Beach, which consists of 1.5 square miles, 81 businesses have liquor licenses, she said.

Williams said she wants to prevent Hermosa Beach from becoming “a party town,” an image attached to the city in the past, she said.

“I feel since I’ve been on the council that we haven’t been enforcing much of anything except parking tickets,” she said. “We’re not trying to close anybody up. We just want to have the laws enforced.”

The Restaurant and Tavern Owners Assn., which was formed in response to the crackdowns, has targeted for defeat Williams and Councilwoman Etta Simpson, who are running for reelection in November. The group has begun a voter registration drive, with the motto “Vote for a Change” at restaurants and bars, Bowler said.

Councilman Chuck Sheldon, who doesn’t face reelection, said officials are not singling out bars and restaurants or trying to “turn down the fun meter.”

“All beach towns are party towns to some extent,” he said. “But here it was getting out of control, and we did something about it.”

When young decoys such as Explorer Scouts and others succeed in buying alcoholic beverages, owners are cited. If they are turned down, police send owners letters of commendation.

Proportion Cited

Wisniewski recently reported that in the December operation, officials cited 15 businesses, or 43% of the businesses to which decoys were sent. Some businesses have received fines ranging from $300 to $1,500. In July, officials cited 11 businesses for selling to minors, or 36% of the establishments to which decoys were sent.

“That indicates to me that there is still a high disregard for alcoholic beverage laws to minors,” Wisniewski said.

Last month, the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Department held a session at Hermosa Beach City Hall to advise owners and their employees on how to spot underage drinkers.

Bowler, whose restaurant was cited during both operations, said he sent all of his employees to the session. “The decoy operation by nature assumes guilt,” he said.

“I’ve been in business for 20 years with no violations,” Bowler said. “Then they start this. The next thing I know, I’ve got two citations for selling to a minor.”

Bowler said that although all members of the association want underage drinking stopped, he has seen no evidence that underage drinking in Hermosa Beach is on the rise or that businesses can be linked to the problem.

But Carl Falletta, the deputy chief of Alcoholic Beverage Control’s local office in Cerritos, said cities such as Hermosa Beach might not even know they have a problem.

“A lot of cities that thought they didn’t have a problem, then started a decoy program and found that they had one,” he said.

The most frequent crackdown has been on conditional-use permit violations. Officers have been armed with noise meters when they check out entertainment spots. Owners have been advised to close windows and doors when a band is playing and to place screens over windows to prevent patrons from passing drinks to friends outside.

In addition, impact teams have gone out twice. On July 22, eight police and fire officials--including Wisniewski--inspected businesses, but no one was cited. Meanwhile, police made eight arrests for crimes, including driving under the influence, battery, cocaine possession, theft and public drunkenness.

Band Played On

A week later, one business, C. J. Bretts, was cited for letting a band play past 1 a.m. That is the time the establishment’s conditional-use permit calls for such activities to end. In addition, the impact team arrested six people on various charges.

Elizabeth Guthrie, manager of C. J. Bretts, acknowledged that the band played past the scheduled time. She said she thought that the required ending time was 1:30 a.m., not 1, and that the police should have given her a warning before issuing a citation. She was fined $117, she said.

“It was like they were looking to write citations,” she said.

But, Williams said, officials simply want to make the area more peaceful. She cited a recent visit to a restaurant where less noise would have helped.

“The noise was so loud, my chest vibrated,” she said. “I ordered a light beer, and the waitress brought me a whiskey shot. She didn’t even hear my order.”