Eatery Opens on Site of Controversial Bar

A mariachi band and a free buffet highlighted the opening of a Mexican restaurant at the former site of a controversial bar where a battle over a liquor license led the city to adopt the toughest liquor laws in the state.

Casa Azteca, which opened Thursday, replaces La Nueva Copa Granada, whose owner, Pancho Valenzuela, in 1992 successfully fought attempts by community groups to deny his nightclub a license to sell hard alcohol.

In the aftermath of that heated battle, the San Fernando City Council passed zoning ordinances preventing new businesses from obtaining liquor licenses in the city. The state Department of Alcohol Beverage Control is the only agency authorized to grant licenses to serve alcohol but the council’s actions created zoning restrictions that have effectively prevented new outlets from opening.

“We lost that battle but we won the bigger war,” said Councilman Raul Godinez, whose active role on the issue prompted him to run for the City Council the following year. In 1992, Godinez said, San Fernando had 55 liquor outlets and 23,850 residents, a percentage higher than anywhere in the county except South-Central Los Angeles.

Hope Moreno, who with her son David owns Casa Azteca, elected not to challenge San Fernando’s ordinances although she initially sought a license to sell hard liquor in addition to beer and wine.

“Other restaurants have full bars so I feel like why wasn’t I allowed to have the same thing,” said Moreno, referring to establishments that opened before the ordinances were passed. “But I wanted to work with the city and to let people know that we are running a clean, family restaurant here.”

For that, city officials are relieved. La Rinda Plaza, where Casa Azteca is situated, was in the past a popular cruising spot for gang members and the target of vandals and repeated complaints by neighbors, according to city officials.