COSTA MESA : Council Stands Firm on Closing Tavern

Despite a petition signed by 1,035 customers of Henry and Harry’s Goat Hill Tavern, the City Council voted again this week to try to close the bar.

Councilman Peter F. Buffa, examining the petition, noted that only a fraction of the signers were Costa Mesa residents. That shows, he said, that the bar has outgrown its location and “is beyond what would be considered a neighborhood bar.”

The council last summer voted not to renew the bar’s operating license, and it denied the owners a rehearing. A Superior Court judge, however, ordered the city to allow a rehearing, which took place Monday.

But the bar owners also have a temporary court order barring the city from closing the bar. Attorney Alan R. Burns, who represents tavern owner Robert Zeimer, could not be reached for comment.

The council’s vote this week was unanimous. Councilman Orville Amburgey, who had supported the bar in the past, was voted out of office last month.

It was the latest in a string of hearings that began after neighbors complained to the city more than a year ago that the bar’s customers were too noisy, littered the area and urinated and vomited at nearby businesses. They asked the city to review the conditions with which the bar’s owners had received the permit, which is required for a bar within 200 feet of a residential area.

Although the Goat Hill Tavern’s front door opens onto Newport Boulevard, most of its customers use the back entrance, which opens out to a parking lot shared by other businesses. Behind the parking lot are apartments and houses.