STUDIO CITY : Restaurant Shortens Hours to Get Permit

The owners of a new Studio City restaurant will cut back late-night hours, and a residents’ association agreed in return not to oppose the sale of alcohol under a compromise approved Monday by a Los Angeles zoning administrator.

Tre Venezie, an Italian restaurant planned for 4100 Cahuenga Blvd., near Lankershim Boulevard, was granted a permit to sell alcohol until midnight Sunday through Thursday, and until 1 a.m. on weekends.

The restaurant, scheduled to open in late August or early September, had originally asked permission to stay open until 2 a.m., seven days a week. Those hours ruffled feathers among members of a local residents’ association.

“We’re not looking for the Melrose-ization of Studio City,” said Tony Lucente, president of the Studio City Residents Assn. “And when you allow the virtually unlimited sale of alcohol, that’s what you are headed for.”

But residents and restaurateurs alike expressed satisfaction.

“We can work with it,” said restaurant co-owner Tom Sweet. “Within these parameters, we can do it.”

Polly Ward, vice president of the residents’ association, also said it was a fair arrangement.

“I think it worked out well,” she said. “It is a reasonable compromise.”

In granting the conditional use permit, zoning administrator Albert Landini did not address questions of whether the restaurant, which can accommodate about 200 people, has adequate parking, and whether it can make use of an eight-table patio for outdoor seating.