DANA POINT : License Non-Renewal Forces Inn’s Closure

The popular Harbor Inn, a landmark Pacific Coast Highway bar and restaurant for more than 40 years, has been closed because the owner didn’t renew the establishment’s liquor license, authorities said.

State investigators closed the inn on April 1 because its liquor license expired on Dec. 31 and was never renewed, said Marianne Eckhoff, the supervising investigator for the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. The annual cost of renewing a license is $495 if done on time, Eckhoff said.

Eckhoff said the department sent several letters to the license holder, Angelo Tomeo, at the inn at 34094 Pacific Coast Highway, offering him several extensions, but received no response.

“The department had no alternative but to revoke the license for non-renewal, just like someone who doesn’t renew a driver’s license,” Eckhoff said.

Eckhoff added that “I don’t foresee this license being resurrected” because the period has passed when a license can be renewed. A new license will now have to be purchased at a minimal cost of $12,000, she said.

“Because it’s expensive, we make many attempts to try and find the licensees,” Eckhoff said.

Tomeo could not be reached for comment. His only known address was at the inn itself, authorities said.

“That was part of the problem, we never could find him,” Sheriff’s Deputy Joe Homs said of Tomeo.

The Harbor Inn was the source of numerous complaints from nearby residents for noise and occasional fighting in the parking lot, Homs said.

Homs said the Harbor Inn was the first place in the city ever to have its license revoked, although the nearby Caribbean nightclub lost its license a year ago when its owner died.

The building that housed the Harbor Inn has been in business since the early 1950s and originally was a restaurant and bar called Doc and Joe’s, according to local historians.