WESTMINSTER : City Cracks Down on Tijuana Jones Club

Following emotional testimony from the family of a man who was fatally beaten at a popular local nightclub, the City Council barred the Tijuana Jones club from offering live entertainment and alcohol.

The action may be moot, however, since the manager of the nightclub, which is at 16310 Beach Blvd., closed the business last week and has made an appointment with the state Alcoholic Beverage Control agency to surrender its alcohol license.

In January, the Planning Commission urged that the council restrict the club’s entertainment and business hours because the business is licensed as a family restaurant and not a nightclub.

At the hearing, police said club patrons are causing disturbances, especially on weekends. Detective Bob Gill said that in the past year officers were called to the club 98 times for disturbances, including 29 assaults, one sexual battery, one rape and one homicide.

The worst incident, which is still under investigation, was on Nov. 28, when Bryan Bensfield, 24, was beaten outside the restaurant. He died two days later.

Before the council vote, Bryan Bensfield’s mother, Regina Hardin, pleaded for the council to severely restrict the business, effectively closing it as a nightclub.

“My son was killed 75 days ago,” she said. “I came here to ask you to please listen to the Police Department of our city, please listen to the Planning Commission, please, for the benefit of all those of us in this city, close this place down.”

She said after the vote: “It’s like a burden has been lifted off my chest. I’m elated. . . . Nothing I do can bring my son back, so the most important thing I can do is make sure this doesn’t happen to someone else.”

During the hearing, 30 of Bryan Bensfield’s family and friends sat quietly, many waving signs with his photo that read, “Stop the violence,” and “Please don’t let anyone else end up like Bryan Bensfield.” No representatives from Tijuana Jones attended the meeting.

Although Tijuana Jones operated primarily as a nightclub, Mike Bouvier, the city’s planning and building manager, said its permit did not allow it to do so. The permit defined the business as a family restaurant, offering live talent and comedy shows, jazz and reggae music on Sunday afternoons only.

However, the club’s primary source of revenue was music and dancing on weekend nights, which violates the permit, he said. The club had also offered “bikini-clad male dancers” on occasion as part of ladies’ night, he said.

The council unanimously endorsed the Planning Commission’s recommendation, which called for the club to cut its bar size and business hours, remove the dance floor and enlarge its dining area, and cease all entertainment.

Marianne Eckhoff, Alcoholic Beverage Control’s local enforcement supervisor, said the council’s move would enable her department to revoke the business owner’s alcohol permit, preventing the owner from using it elsewhere in the county.