Activists Cheer Closure of Historic Ventura Bar

Outside, dozens of community activists--armed with signs and banners--cheered as a state official hammered a sign to the front door of a downtown bar Friday morning and shut it down.

Inside the historic Rendezvous Room, bartenders scurried to clear half-finished Bloody Marys and beer off the counter. And owner Janie Robinson began removing mirrors emblazoned with beer logos and giving them away to loyal patrons.

The state Department of Alcohol Beverage Control suspended the bar’s alcohol license for 20 days, after police in June found a 14-year-old boy so drunk on the sidewalk outside the bar that he had to be hospitalized.

Also, every employee who sells liquor at the bar must complete a department-approved alcohol-server training program within 60 days before the bar can reopen.

But Robinson said she is giving up. The bar at Main and Palm streets is closing for good.

Community activists hailed the closure as a victory and an example of what can happen when neighborhoods and police work together with a state agency.

“This is as grass-roots as it gets. It’s not until people came out of their houses that we were able to get the pressure to be able to do this,” said Sharon Troll, a member of the neighborhood group Westside Partners in Prevention. The group received a $58,000 grant from Ventura County to reduce youth access to alcohol and has several formal programs underway.

“This is about selling alcohol to minors,” Troll said. “We will not tolerate that in Ventura. Do not sell to our children, or we will come after you.”

Activists from across Ventura crowded the sidewalk outside the 140-year-old watering hole starting at 9:30 a.m. There were also representatives from similar groups in Oxnard and Port Hueneme.

“The link is: Community folks don’t want alcohol sold to kids,” said Sharon O’Hara, a volunteer with the Oxnard/Port Hueneme Coalition against DUIs. “When the ABC shows up and takes action, we turn up and say, ‘Good!’ ”

To applause, Ed Macias of the Department of Alcohol Beverage Control strode into the dark bar shortly before 10 a.m.

“Clear the bar,” he ordered.

Macias conferred with Robinson over the dimly lit pool table, explaining to her the conditions of the closure.

He then went outside and pounded the sign onto the door.

Robinson made a banner of her own and hung it inside the infamous bar that once served as an impromptu City Hall for the Ventura City Council, and later as the county courthouse.

“To our family of customers: Thank you one and all for the many years of happiness, love, and joy. You all will be missed.”

Robinson, who has run the bar for 30 years, said she believes her establishment was unfairly targeted. And she questions whether the drunk 14-year-old was ever inside the Rendezvous.

“They said he came out of here. But how do they know that?” she said. “We had people at both doors.”

She said perhaps the boy had entered when the guard was in the bathroom.

Dwane Gibbons, a karaoke entertainer at the Rendezvous Room, says the bar should not be blamed for what happened.

“Because of the irresponsibility of a parent, we have lost our jobs,” he said. “Because that parent did not keep track of their child, and comply with the curfew.”

Richard Moraga, owner of the Derrick Room, another historic watering hole on the city’s west end that was forced to close in September, stood forlornly on the sidewalk amid the energetic picketers.

“I’m just here to say goodbye to Janie,” he said.