Policing the Party Zone

It is 12 o’clock on a Friday night and so calm on the streets of Old Pasadena that Police Sgt. George Wiley is wondering about a shutout.

Wiley, who oversees patrols of the party zone, has never gone an entire shift without somebody getting arrested. And he will not on this night, either. As if cued by the stroke of midnight, the revelers who have kept bars packed all evening begin emerging to reveal the fruits of their efforts.

A well-dressed but grievously drunk man who locked himself in the bathroom of a Mexican restaurant is extricated by police and finally carted off by ambulance, waving unsteadily and spattered with his own vomit. Two officers sprint down Colorado Boulevard when a brawl spills out of a nearby bar and a combatant tries to race away.

From a few blocks away comes another call, and police swoop down with pepper spray to break up a sidewalk scuffle between two inebriated buddies who picked the wrong time to discuss an old girlfriend. One of the pals screams in pain from the eye-stinging spray as Wiley and his troops sort out who will spend the night in jail. A band of onlookers across the street adds noisy cheers while dancing the macarena to the saxophone accompaniment of a street musician.

And this is a slow night.

As on most weekends, the struggle for order in Old Pasadena this Friday night means coping with a young, good-timing crowd that residents say has grown more boisterous as the neighborhood has gotten more popular. It is a tricky but crucial balancing act.

Merchants and city officials, mindful of the disastrous impact of even an isolated act of violence, hope to sustain Old Pasadena’s remarkable bloom as an oasis for shoppers and bar-hoppers while avoiding the sort of crowd troubles that smothered once-trendy Westwood Village.

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That means coping with hordes that police say top 30,000 on typical Fridays and Saturdays; stores have hired more security guards to handle the extra flood of holiday shoppers.

Whatever the season, policing involves the ticklish task of managing the changing crowd from day to night, when the older, shop-till-you-drop set gives way to throngs of teenagers and twentysomethings in search of fun.

And very often, in one way or another, that will involve alcohol.

Seventy establishments in Old Pasadena are licensed to sell alcohol--more than three per city block--and calls for police help typically involve public drunkenness or fighting.

“Two to three years ago, you’d have the same number of people, but they’d be restaurant and movie-goers. Now it’s a party crowd,” Wiley said.

So far, police boast an enviable crime-fighting record for the 1.2-square-mile area, which ranks low in the city in street crime and has suffered no murders and little other serious trouble in recent years.

A summary of 270 police calls in Old Pasadena during July, typically the busiest month for visitors to Old Pasadena, was heavy with complaints of public drunkenness and disturbances and included three reports of assaults with a deadly weapon. (The most serious incident in recent memory was the rape in May of a woman. Charges were later dismissed against a Pasadena man.)

Observers credit cooperation between merchants and police, along with a hard-nosed approach toward even the most petty offenses. Drivers whose car stereos thump loudly are ticketed for noise violations. Teenagers with wobbly legs and beer on their breath are hauled off for public drunkenness. Suspected gang members who venture into Old Pasadena are put on notice that they will be under close watch.

Some critics have complained that enforcement efforts have created an inhospitable environment for minority youths, especially blacks. But police deny targeting any group.

“Our posture is to maintain a high visibility and to make the area feel comfortable and safe for people,” Police Cmdr. Mary Schander said. “Those people can be of any age or ethnic group.”

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High-spirited crowds are nothing new to Pasadena, which is home to the annual Rose Parade and has hosted a Super Bowl game and World Cup tournament in recent years.

On weekend nights, when estimates put Old Pasadena’s crowds even larger than those at CityWalk or Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade, the precinct is patrolled by up to 20 officers with a full-time supervisor.

The $209,000 overtime tab is paid by parking meter revenues. Police recently added a pair of undercover officers and plan to inaugurate horse patrols in the spring. Landlords are discussing putting private security guards under a central command to work more closely with police.

Still, security is a touchy subject in Old Pasadena, which has been carefully marketed and where sensitivity about image is so keen you can expect a scolding for calling it “Old Town.”

Once a skid row of dive bars and flophouses, the corridor of cafes and catalog retailers earns the city about $1.4 million a year in sales tax revenues and is praised as a model for reviving aging urban cores by luring people to pedestrian strips.

The revitalization got a key boost with the introduction of a United Artists movie theater a decade ago and crowds have swelled to new highs in the past four years with the entry of mall retailers such as The Gap, J. Crew and Victoria’s Secret, plus a host of new restaurants. A $5-million make-over is planned soon for the sidewalks and alleys.

But that popularity also has spawned soul-searching over the size of the crowds--and the kinds of businesses that bring them. Amid widespread concerns over bar brawls and other alcohol-related disturbances in Old Pasadena, the city enacted a special zoning law last year to limit the concentration of bars, pool halls and liquor stores.

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Club Shelter, a hipster hangout with a history of brawling and drunk patrons, shut down this year under fire from the state Department of Alcohol and Beverage Control.

A longtime neighborhood bar called the 35er wants to add live music and dancing but is facing stiff opposition from police and neighbors who fear that bigger crowds and more drunk customers would be a menace.

The owner says the 1950s-era bar is the victim of snobbery. “We do not fit in with the plan for Old Pasadena,” said owner Jennine Terzo. “It’s supposed to be all froufrou restaurants now.”

Police also have sought to clamp down on alcohol sales to minors by sending under-age decoys into stores and bars. Foot-beat officers routinely wander through the busiest bars to gauge crowd size and temperament. Another program trains bartenders in how to recognize drunk patrons.

“We’re trying to get it out that it’s not just going to be a party place. It’s a family place,” said Fran Neumann, executive director of Day One, a local drug and alcohol prevention program coalition.

Concern about the crush of young visitors extends beyond bars into artsy shops, where merchants say the throngs of teenagers have scared away older, more reliable customers and created a theft problem.

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Some blame a growing number of fast-food joints, juice bars and stores that sell CDs and sneakers to young people.

“It’s not downtown anymore. It’s a kids’ hangout,” said Barbara Conrad, who moved her gift store to San Marino this year to escape the hassles and rising rents.

Some critics note darkly that Westwood’s crippling brushes with violence--the fatal shooting of a shopper in 1988 and a rampage a few years later by hundreds of youths turned away from the movie “New Jack City”--came after it began catering mainly to the young set.

Police in Old Pasadena said they have little trouble with gang activity, which can accompany large numbers of young people, by enforcing a 10 p.m. citywide curfew and keeping a close eye on gang members who cruise the area.

“We are quick to let them know we are looking for problems and will not tolerate any behavior that threatens the public safety,” said Police Lt. Alex Uribe, who supervises the Old Pasadena detail.

But African American leaders say watchfulness toward youths wearing baggy clothing and other styles associated with street gangs has also made some blacks--and members of other minority groups--feel unwelcome in Old Pasadena.

“My sons went to the movies the other night, all three of them. I told them, ‘Don’t you all go to Old Town--I don’t want you to get hassled,’ ” said Charles Bereal, who heads the local NAACP branch.

Uribe said police walk a fine line in remaining vigilant about potential troublemakers--whether they are youthful cruisers or boozy barflies--while respecting everyone’s right to enjoy the area, which is, after all, public.

Old Pasadena’s boosters insist that they can avoid a repeat of Westwood’s troubles through careful policing and nurturing an upscale shopping climate that draws families and steers clear of video arcades and T-shirt shops.

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And concern for the historic buildings that have been saved at the cost of hundreds of millions of dollars makes Old Pasadena “more resolute about not trashing itself,” said Dan Mellinkoff, who owns two buildings and is co-chairman of a security subcommittee of the Old Pasadena Business and Professional Assn.

“The stakes are huge for everyone,” Mellinkoff said. “The area needs to be sustained and be successful.”