SHERMAN OAKS : Cafe Accused of Ignoring City Order

The Los Angeles city attorney’s office filed criminal charges Friday against the owner and operators of a Sherman Oaks cafe for ignoring a City Council order to cut back late-night hours.

Third Life Inc., which operates the Insomnia Cafe, John Pulwer, the company’s president, and coffeehouse manager John Dunn were charged with two counts of disobeying a City Council order.

“Our business provides a nonalcoholic atmosphere for our patrons,” Dunn said in a telephone interview Friday from the cafe on Ventura Boulevard. “If that is our crime and we’re going to be punished for it, I want a judge to tell us.”

Pulwer and Dunn are scheduled to be arraigned April 13 in Van Nuys Municipal Court. If convicted, each man faces a maximum sentence of six months in jail and/or a $1,000 fine.

A city zoning administrator deemed the cafe, at 13718 Ventura Blvd., a public nuisance last March after neighbors complained that it generated late-night noise and parking congestion and attracted unruly customers.

The city Board of Zoning Appeals upheld the ruling in July and ordered the cafe’s owners to limit their business hours, which the owners appealed.

The Los Angeles City Council subsequently upheld the decision requiring the cafe to close at 11 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and by 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

The cafe operators violated the council order on at least two occasions since the Dec. 1 deadline, according to Assistant City Atty. Donald Cocek. Investigators from the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety found the cafe open past 2 a.m. on Dec. 5 and past 11 p.m. on Feb. 22.

“Obviously, the easiest solution would be for them to abide by the City Council request to close at certain hours,” Cocek said.

“It’s not our intent to close the Insomnia Cafe down.”

News of the charges pleased some weary Sherman Oaks residents who hope that an end to their sleepless nights is near.

“Hopefully, the neighbors will be able to sleep either because the owner complies with the City Council order or because he goes to jail,” said Richard Close, president of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn.