Debate Over Coffeehouse Is No Yawner

To hear nearby residents tell it, the Insomnia Cafe is keeping them awake.

At a public hearing Thursday, neighbors of the Sherman Oaks coffeehouse protested that it keeps them up all night with its late hours and rowdy clientele.

“This past year has been hell for me personally,” said Gary Nudell, who lives near the eatery. “I do not get sleep on Friday or Saturday nights.”

The testimony, adamantly rebutted by the cafe owner and supporters, came during a zoning administrator’s hearing to determine whether to impose a variety of restrictions on the year-old coffeehouse. The administrator will make a decision in the coming weeks, which can be appealed to the Board of Zoning Appeals.

The hearing, which degenerated at times into snickering and name-calling between the 80 people who packed the room, was the latest chapter in a controversy that has been brewing over the cafe, which is near a residential neighborhood and often stays open until 3 or 4 a.m.

Backers of the Insomnia say the trendy eatery is the perfect place for coffee drinkers and dessert lovers to relax on old-fashioned sofas, scribble poetry in notebooks and chat with friends. Co-owner John Dunn, who carted around an oversized picture of Robin Williams taken at the Insomnia, said the cafe provides a positive, alcohol-free eatery.

“We opened it with the best of intentions,” Dunn said. He said he has tried to meet residents’ demands, warning customers to be quiet and not park on neighborhood streets.

Many of the customers championed the coffeehouse.

“I’ve seen a situation that the city should be encouraging--a place where there is no drinking and no drugs,” said Robert Sheahen, an attorney who visits the cafe three times a week.

But many neighbors, Los Angeles police officers and a representative from Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky’s office painted a different picture.

They said that teen-agers rev their engines as they cruise residential streets on their way to the cafe and yell while they loiter in front of the establishment.

Los Angeles Police Sgt. Ron Marbrey said he had seen people urinate on residents’ lawns and then go into the Insomnia.

“There are large crowds hanging in front of the location and on the side streets, loud noise, curfew violations, racing engines,” he said. “The effect on the neighborhood is substantial.”

Vivian Rescalvo, representing Yaroslavsky, backed the residents, recommending that the cafe’s hours be cut back to 10 p.m. weekdays and midnight on weekends--actions that Dunn said would cripple his business.

Dunn is battling the neighbors on another front as well.

Working with Yaroslavsky, the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. discovered a glitch last year in a remodeling permit for the Insomnia.

The city Department of Building and Safety granted the permit, believing, as the application noted, that the site had previously been used as a restaurant. It was, in fact, an antique store before Insomnia moved in, building inspectors said.

Using this information, the department issued an order for Insomnia to obtain a change-of-use permit. That triggered a city review that showed the restaurant needed 10 parking spaces to comply with land-use ordinances in the area. It now has only two or three, planners said.

The restaurant has until April 2 to submit parking plans, or the Department of Building and Safety will ask the city attorney to file misdemeanor charges against the cafe for unapproved use of a retail store as a restaurant, Building Inspector Jeff Miller said.

Dunn said that he did not know about the mistake on the original application until it was brought to his attention, and he has worked out an agreement with nearby stores to use 30 of their parking spaces after they close at 8 p.m.

The issue came up again and again at the hearing, where tempers flared toward the end.

One woman, angry that the hearing ended before the zoning administrator heard her testimony, marched to the front of the room and expounded on the virtues of the Insomnia as other participants filed out past her.

Ernie Criezis, who owns the nearby Moonlight Tango Cafe, said if he had not hired an extra security guard after the cafe opened, “there’d be panic in the streets.”

His remarks were challenged by an Insomnia Cafe employee, before the discussion disintegrated into name-calling.