Restaurant and bar burglarized

MONTROSE — Thieves tried to burglarize two bars early Tuesday and stole high-priced liquor from another restaurant, police said.

Glendale police notified other neighborhood bars about the recent burglaries and advised owners to step up security measures, Sgt. Tom Lorenz said.

Detectives also advised officials at Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station and the Los Angeles Police Department’s Foothill Division.

The burglary attempts occurred just after 2 a.m. along Verdugo Road and Honolulu Avenue, according to police reports.

The first burglary was reported about 2 a.m. at Sun Palace, a Chinese restaurant, in the 3700 block of North Verdugo Road. The restaurant didn’t have an alarm or video surveillance equipment, according to police reports.

Thieves entered the restaurant, carried cash registers to the kitchen and forced them open to remove money.

They went on to break into an upstairs office, where they dumped the contents of a box to use it to carry liquor bottles. Police suspect more than one thief was involved in the burglary.

More than an hour later, someone broke into Leo’s All-Star Sports Bar and Grill in the 2900 block of Honolulu Avenue.

A thief used a pry tool to break in through the bar’s back door and yanked a ringing burglary alarm from a portion of the bar, according to reports.

Bar Owner Leo Lesh said surveillance video showed the masked thief scour aimlessly around the bar before fleeing.

In the eight years that Lesh has owned the bar, it has never been burglarized, he said.

“I am not worried about it,” he said.

Still, Lesh said he made sure to step up security since the burglary attempt by reinforcing the bar’s back doors and locks.

Police also suspect thieves tried to break in to the Blue Moon Lounge in the 3600 block of Verdugo Road, where pry marks were found on the bar’s back door.

Anyone with details about the burglaries was asked to call the Glendale Police Burglary Unit at (818) 548-4047.