Coffee and Curses : New No-Smoking Law Meets Defiance at Blue-Collar Restaurant

It’s smoker Gus Palyvos’ version of the All-American breakfast: A cup of black coffee and a couple of True cigarettes savored over the morning paper.

But the 54-year-old Del Mar racetrack worker got a rude awakening Monday when Jenny, his favorite waitress in his chosen cafe, met him at the door of Marge’s Country Kitchen in Solana Beach.

“Sorry, Gus,” she said. “You can’t smoke here from today on. It’s the law now.”

For puffers all across the North County beach town, news of the public smoking ban made Monday morning grayer--and staler--than exhaled cigarette smoke. It was the day Solana Beach made its smokers go cold turkey.

Citing numerous health concerns, Solana Beach earlier this summer became the first city in San Diego County to ban public smoking in office buildings, restaurants, gymnasiums and bowling alleys.

No cigs. No pipes. No cigars. No excuses. And that means just about everywhere except outdoors and that last bastion of unabashed public smoking--the local bar.

Smokers called Monday “D-Day” and bemoaned the loss of another supposedly guaranteed individual right. On the first cigarette-free day in Solana Beach, where there wasn’t smoke, there was definitely fire.

Like Gus Palyvos, some angry puffers refused to adhere to the ban, letting their ashes fall to the floor in protest unless a restaurant waitress hurried along with a clean ashtray.

“This really is the Republic of Solana Beach, isn’t it?” said one Country Kitchen regular. “How can five little politicians pass such a dumb law that immediately affects so many people without letting the people vote on it first?”

The self-employed drywaller, who sat before a heaping plate of home-fried potatoes drowned in ketchup, refused to give his name. The reason: Even though his wife and children all smoke, he is no longer allowed to partake. Anyway, not since his most recent open-heart surgery, he sheepishly explained.

“I wonder how many of them council members are smokers themselves?” he asked, receiving several knowing nods along the counter. “I’ll bet not one of them.”

Exactly right, say Solana Beach officials. Collectively, they pride themselves on taking a bold step forward in the name of all nonsmokers, politician or not.

In a pamphlet entitled “Breathing Easier” officials explain that the old no-smoking ordinance has been made stricter because of recent studies showing “that second-hand smoke is a health hazard to people.”

The old law, mirrored after a county ordinance, stipulated that a percentage of tables in a public setting had to be maintained for nonsmokers. When county officials asked if the city wanted to follow its lead by increasing the number of smokerless tables, officials decided to join the trend of cities that had drawn the line on cigarette smoke.

The new law also restricts the placement of cigarette vending machines to discourage teen-agers from smoking.

It’s only a matter of time before the Solana Beach law becomes the norm, say officials in the city of 13,000 residents--pointing to a no-smoking rule recently adopted by El Camino Real mall in Carlsbad.

Several Northern California cities have similar bans along with San Luis Obispo, which bans smoking outright--even in bars.

“We’ve talked to people there, and they say that their economy hasn’t suffered one bit,” Solana Beach City Manager Michael Huse said. “This is strictly a public health issue. What we’re saying to people is that, in Solana Beach, your health matters to us.”

The new smoking law places the onus of enforcement on property owners. Restaurant owners, for example, could be cited and fined if the city receives enough complaints about smokers firing up on their premises.

Smokers themselves face no penalty unless caught red-handed by a uniformed officer.

“But we don’t have the manpower to send uniformed officials to each and every restaurant or public place,” Huse said. “We’re going to achieve this by a measure of self-enforcement, hoping that nonsmokers and others will report what they see.”

But confusion remains over elements of the new law. Officials say signs will be offered to business owners to help get the message across. And they are quick to point out places where people can still smoke:

Private residences, bars, most hotel rooms, and restaurant and motel conference rooms that are used for private functions. Retail stores that sell tobacco products and businesses where a smoking room has been officially set aside.

Huse said city officials visited a restaurant-bar where managers asked questions about whether patrons could smoke at the bar. After an inspection, officials decided the business could allow smoking only if the air-conditioning was reworked so that the bar received separate ventilation.

“I’m sure there’s some skeptical about this, saying why does a little place like Solana Beach have to take the lead on the smoking issue,” Huse said. “But statistics show that 80% of San Diego County doesn’t smoke.

“You watch. Someday soon, this is something that is going to be wholeheartedly embraced by everybody.”

Not so, say tobacco manufacturers.

“Just because these anti-smoking laws are a trend in California, that doesn’t mean the rest of the country is necessarily going to follow suit,” said Mark Smith, a spokesman for the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. in Winston-Salem, N.C., which sells one-third of the cigarettes on the market today.

“Those so-called people concerned about health are using questionable studies to move forward their own social agenda. There’s a price to be paid when you tell people they can’t smoke--and that’s individual liberties. We’ve heard from smokers about the issue. Most of them are fit to be tied.”

In Solana Beach, some people were rejoicing. Take Kristin Weber.

The 22-year-old front-desk clerk at the Ramada Inn was surprised that such a law was even passed. “Whew, I can breathe a little easier now,” she said. “Gee, if I knew about that law, I could have already told two people this morning to put their butts out.”

Next door at the Country Kitchen, the only vapors were rising from the steaming hot cups of coffee.

That was, until Gus Palyvos arrived.

“It’s a bad habit,” he said. “But it’s also a hard habit to quit. My mind’s not telling me to smoke. It’s my body. And the city is discriminating against me for something I don’t have a whole hell of a lot of control over.”

Before Monday, Palyvos had refused to do business with restaurants that forbade smoking. He signed a petition at the Country Kitchen, along with a few hundred other die-hards--all to no avail.

“I don’t give a damn if the city cites me,” he said in a croaky voice. “I will smoke whatever, wherever.”

Waitresses at the Country Kitchen, which has a fireplace and a picture of a cow and its calf hanging over the cash register, also were unhappy about the new law.

The way they see it, the city is forcing them to play cop.

“Hey, this is a waitress note pad, not a citation pad,” said waitress Carol Carr. “I’m not going to police these people. It’s between the city and the smokers. But they’ve put me in the position of the bad guy.

“And I’m already losing money in tips. If this keeps up, I’m going to have to take on a second job this winter.”

Sunny Baker, whose sister opened the restaurant 25 years ago, said the Country Kitchen clientele is mostly blue-collar types who sleep-walk in about 5 a.m., looking for only a few things--a cup of coffee, a cigarette and a little peace and quiet before a long day on the job.

“We’re a blue-collar bar, and this has hit us hard,” she said. “One guy walked right back out the door when he heard about the law, said he’d be back after they repealed it. He’s probably eating over at the Denny’s in Del Mar as we speak.”

All morning, the talk centered on smoking and cigarettes.

“Where are them ashtrays, lady friend?” growled one customer.

“You can’t smoke here any more,” snapped one waitress.

“Hey, don’t say it like that,” warned another.

“Well,” said the first waitress. “How about this then? ‘Excuse me, sir, but you can’t puff on that cancer stick in the restaurant.’ ”

At the counter, customer Jenny McElroy summed it up.

“All I know,” she said, “is that when you drink coffee in the morning, you have to smoke cigarettes. And now we can’t.”