No More Side Orders of Smoke : Rather than hurting the restaurant business in L.A., the new smoking ban may bring in customers from surrounding cities.

When I was a kid in the early 1960s, all it took was a note from my mother and I could buy her cigarettes. I never smoked them, she did, but I was a willing accessory to her two-pack-a-day habit.

I even defended Mom when my brother, then in his early teens, would find her hidden stash in the dryer or the rice barrel. Mom would chase Will around the house until the pursuit ended, invariably, in the bathroom. There, Will would viciously crumble them, letting the tobacco filter through his fingers, even dropping whole ones into the toilet before her desperate, horrified eyes. She was hooked.

I was thinking about “back then” when Mom finally flagged down our waiter. In Chinese, she asked the waiter, “Could you please ask that man over there to stop smoking. We have a little boy here.”

She meant my 3-year-old nephew Alexander, who was getting the full brunt of smoke emanating from the lit cigarette held loosely between the fingers of the middle-aged man at an adjacent table.

Our food had just arrived--braised tofu in oyster sauce, sauteed bok choy, boneless lemon chicken, an oyster hot pot, chicken lo mein for little Alex. This was our favorite Chinese restaurant in the whole city of Monterey Park.

But just as we began eating, the man at the next table began to chain-smoke. The smoke curls wafted into Alex’s face. We moved him to another part of our table. But to no avail. Another patron at another table had finished his meal, and was lighting up for his after-dinner smoke. We moved Alex again. And moments later, we moved him again.

To our dismay, we soon found ourselves surrounded by sated smokers, several of whom were well aware of our extreme discomfort. But they smoked on.

Our waiter listened impatiently to my mother’s request and shrugged her off. Without a word, he walked away. The implication was clear. This is a Chinese restaurant, and Chinese people like to smoke. We were silly and out-of-line for asking.

Nothing like the wrath of a reformed smoker. Mom asked for the check, we shoveled our food into containers and left the restaurant, having barely touched our meal.

While I do not object to smoking by those who wish to smoke, I do object to inconsiderate behavior. I object to the sanctimonious smoker who insists on his or her right to ruin other people’s evening. I have encountered some thoughtful people who delayed smoking in my presence. But I have often wondered why the smoker’s right has been more protected than my right to breathe smoke-free. There is no doubt in my mind that I’ve been the one to make the most of the adjustments.

There have been countless times when I have hurried a meal. Countless times when I have delayed entering a room. Countless times when I have slowed my walking pace because of a smoker ahead. There have been countless times when I’ve had to pay extra cleaning bills to get that clinging smell out of my clothes. Countless times when I have backed out the door, opting for another restaurant.

So when some restaurateurs recently opposed the new Los Angeles smoking ban, decrying the potential loss of patrons. I wondered if they ever considered people like me. Did they stop to consider the numbers of nonsmoking customers who may have quietly chosen to take their business and patronage elsewhere? And did they stop to think that the no-smoking ban may bring those people back?

I’ll bet Councilman Marvin Braude thought of it. My gratitude to him, and to the seven other council members--Ruth Galanter, Mike Hernandez, Joy Picus, Mark Ridley-Thomas, Joel Wachs, Rita Walters and Zev Yaroslavsky--who voted in June to ban smoking in Los Angeles restaurants.

Betty, my pregnant sister-in-law, wonders how enforceable this ban will be. Even though it goes into effect citywide on Monday, we’re all skeptical. Smokers get so indignant about their smoking privileges, waving the red flag of diminishing civil liberties. In Sacramento, two bills are being considered. One would ban smoking in restaurants statewide. The other would exempt restaurants with fewer than 50 seats from any restrictions.

For now, my family resolves to find another “favorite” Chinese restaurant, maybe even brave the downtown parking hassles and drive back into Los Angeles’ Chinatown, something we haven’t done in a long time. No ban in Monterey Park--yet.