Update : Follow-up on the news : GARDEN GROVE : Council Bars Minors From Coffeehouses
The city’s coffeehouses are now off limits to minors during school hours and after 8 p.m.
The Police Department had lobbied for the ordinance that won final City Council approval this week, expressing concerns that the coffeehouses had become magnets for youth gangs.
Besides limiting the hours when those younger than 18 can frequent the establishments, the new law requires coffeehouse owners to turn up the often-dim lights and get rid of all but three amusement games, such as table-top video games.
Coffeehouse operators had spoken out against the regulations, saying that they were not aware of a crime problem and they feared that their businesses would be hurt. Video games and dim lighting, they said, are part of the atmosphere that makes the shops popular.
The ordinance was patterned after a Westminster law passed in July.
--COMPILED BY SARAH KLEIN, DEBRA CANO AND ENRIQUE LAVIN
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