Company Town

Easyriders Inc. sold its El Paso Bar-B-Que restaurants to a unit of Culinary Holdings Inc. of Newport Beach for $4 million in cash.

Culinary also will assume $7.5 million in liabilities, said Easyriders, a publishing, retail and entertainment company in Agoura Hills. Easyriders lost $14.1 million, or 65 cents a share, on sales of $44.5 million in 1999.

Culinary Holdings owns five restaurants in Orange County under the names Chimayo Grill, Chimayo at the Beach, French 75, Sorrento Grill and Savannah Chophouse.

Its controlling shareholder, John Martin, also is chairman of Easyriders. William Prather, Easyriders chief executive, resigned to devote full time to the El Paso Bar-B-Que business. He remains a director of Easyriders.

Meanwhile, Chief Financial Officer and Secretary J. Robert Fabregas will serve as interim chief executive.

Easyriders stock closed unchanged at 31 cents a share on the American Stock Exchange.