SHERMAN OAKS : Insomnia Cafe to Appeal Restriction

The co-owner of a Sherman Oaks coffeehouse said Monday that he will appeal a ruling by a city zoning administrator that would force the cafe to cut back its closing hours from 4 a.m. to midnight on weekends and from 3 a.m. to 10 p.m. during the week.

But John Dunn, co-owner of the Insomnia Cafe at 13718 Ventura Blvd., said he is not hopeful of winning an appeal to the city Planning Department’s Board of Zoning Administrators. “This time we get to sit in front of a bunch of people who aren’t going to listen to us, instead of just one,” Dunn said, referring to the five-member board as opposed to the zoning official who made the ruling last week.

In his ruling, Administrator James Crisp deemed the Insomnia a public nuisance and imposed a dozen restrictions on its operation. They include an order to clean graffiti from the premises weekly and to provide 10 additional parking spaces for patrons and two uniformed security guards after 5 p.m.

“The zoning commission, to us, is a big joke,” Dunn said. “They don’t even know what is going on here. And that’s going to help our case in District Court.”

A yearlong battle brewing since the cafe opened in March, 1992, came to a head when the cafe’s critics and supporters squared off in a public hearing called by Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky. Crisp’s ruling is based on the evidence presented in that hearing. A ruling by the Board of Zoning Administrators, which would require a second public hearing, is appealable to the City Council.