Hermosa Cafe Owner Wins 1, Loses 1 in Fight Over Noise

The Hermosa Beach City Council, seeking to avert a potential $15-million lawsuit, agreed Tuesday to lift an earlier ban on daytime jazz performances at the popular Lighthouse Cafe. But the owner of the 40-year-old club on Pier Avenue said his feud with the city isn’t over.

Owner Paul Hennessey, who owns a string of Southern California taverns, agreed last summer to 20 conditions relating to noise and management of the club. The conditions were imposed by the Planning Commission after neighborhood complaints. .

But Mayor Kathleen Midstokke and Councilman Robert Essertier--acting as private citizens--appealed the commission’s decision to the council, where two more conditions were imposed. Those conditions banned amplified music during breakfast and lunch and required double doors at the front and rear of the club to keep noise from spilling outside.

Hennessey objected to these additional conditions and filed a $15-million claim against the city, saying the conditions would hurt his business so much that the club would eventually be forced to close.

Tuesday, on the advice of City Atty. Charles S. Vose, the council voted 3 to 2 to allow the club to resume featuring a regular jazz trio and piano player during the day. Vose said there was not adequate evidence to show that daytime entertainment was causing a public nuisance.

However, Vose said, public testimony supported the requirement for double doors at the establishment. And the council let that condition stand.

After the council vote, Hennessey stormed out of the meeting and said he plans to appeal to the council again to withdraw the requirement for double doors. Workers had already installed double doors in the front of the restaurant, but new rear doors would be an expensive and unnecessary requirement, he said.

“They (council members) did remove the major obstacle,” Hennessey said, “but I am going to appeal the restriction they put on the doors.”