Hermosa Beach Cafe Gets a New Lease on Life

The Gem Cafe, a decades-old Hermosa Beach diner that was to have been shut down by its landlord this week, has been given a reprieve, thanks to an outpouring of community support and a last-minute legal compromise.

“It’s a miracle!” cheered Richard McCurdy, a local businessman and Gem patron who launched a “Save the Gem Cafe Committee” last month when he heard that the landlord was planning to lease the gingham-curtained space to a new tenant.

Until last week, the restaurant’s owners, Henry and Grace Poirier, were facing the demise of the Gem, a burger-and-pie-type diner they had bought 28 years ago from two sisters who had founded it in 1949. Now they have a six-month lease, giving them until Dec. 31 to find a new spot.

The landlords, Warren and Laurie Miller, had sent the Poiriers an eviction notice effective July 1, saying they were planning to lease the space at a higher rent to a new tenant.

The Millers said they were doing this for business reasons, adding that the Poiriers had refused for years to sign a lease--thus they were within their rights to evict them.

But the Poiriers, both in their 60s, said that they had been trying to get a lease for the past year so that they could sell their business and retire on the proceeds. The Millers, they said, had refused to meet with them, and in so doing, had deprived them of a retirement nest egg they were counting on.

For weeks, the Gem’s impending shutdown was the talk of the tiny restaurant, where grandparents and surfers, TV stars and beach bums have gathered for Henry’s roast beef sandwiches and Grace’s homemade fruit and cream pies.

At one point, McCurdy’s committee--which includes, among others, actor Max Wright of the NBC sitcom “Alf”--offered to buy the Gem from the Millers. The landlords refused, saying that they had already signed a contract with the new tenants.

Last week, however, after articles about the Gem’s plight were published in a local weekly newspaper and The Times, the Millers’ lawyer agreed to meet with a lawyer on the Save the Gem Cafe Committee to work out a compromise. Poirier explained that, in the aftermath of the publicity, he and his wife were flooded with calls from patrons who wanted to help them remain in business.

“I don’t think the Millers had understood before how much the cafe meant to the community,” said Beverly Hills attorney Jim Holbrook, a former Hermosa Beach resident and Gem patron.

Holbrook said he met Friday with Harry L. Hathaway, a Los Angeles lawyer who represents the Millers, and worked out the six-month lease. Hathaway said the lease includes a modest rent increase--the Poiriers had been paying $475 a month for the space, and will now pay $675.

Hathaway said the new tenant also agreed to the postponement because she, too, needed more time.

Poirier said he and his wife hope to stay in Hermosa Beach, and “this gives us a chance to look around and find another place.”