San Gabriel Valley : Bar’s Liquor License Revoked; Crime Cited

After complaints from Pasadena community activists, state officials on Thursday revoked the liquor license of a bar that police called a haven for illegal activity.

Palenque Zacatecas on East Washington Boulevard was cited for prostitution, gambling and drug trafficking after a yearlong investigation by undercover police and state officers, said Lt. Bruce Linsenmayer of the Pasadena Police Department.

The day the police began their investigation last year “our undercover officer was able to purchase cocaine at the bar,” he said. Criminal charges are pending against several bar employees.

The bar also violated a state statute prohibiting the use of “bar girls,” women hired by an establishment to encourage male patrons to buy drinks, said Carl Falletta of the state Department of Alcoholic Beverages Control.

Guillermo Jimenez, in whose name the license was issued, could not be reached for comment.

The state Health Department shut down the bar more than month ago for unsanitary conditions, Linsenmayer said. But activists sought the license revocation because they feared the bar could be reopened under a new owner’s name and continue to be a neighborhood nuisance, said Judith Zitter, program manager for Day One Community Partnership, a community group.