Following months of friction between restaurant developers and Hollywood Riviera residents, Rock & Brews has secured a Conditional Use Permit to open on the abandoned corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Palos Verdes Boulevard.
Construction crews are moving quickly. A green light from the City of Torrance was for them an early Christmas surprise, as permit issues were at one point threatening to derail the project. Working toward an April deadline, laborers have already flattened parts of the vacant Oliverโs Cafรฉ building.
Technically situated on the Torrance side of Avenue I, the building has a Redondo Beach address and Redondo Beach neighbors. Many of them are concerned about the idea of a โbeer garden,โ as neighbor Amy Josefek described it, moving into their โbackyard.โ
Restaurant owner-operator Jon Mesko, who has partnered with El Segundo Rock & Brews founders Mike Zislis, Dave Furano and KISS legend Gene Simmons applied in October for a permit to open opposite Fatburger. In response, nearby residents and homeownersโ associations sprang into action, gathering signatures and writing letters in protest. They convinced the City of Torrance Planning Commission to deny Mesko and his partners a permit.
โBecause of the name, Rock & Brews, it was a biker bar to them, with a rock โn roll menu,โ Zislis said. โThat couldnโt be further from the truth. They really believed there would be live music and Gene Simmons blowing fire. Thatโs what they believedโฆ With that being said, itโs truly the most family-friendly restaurant concept Iโve ever done. Iโm so proud of it.โ
Mesko and Zislis say they revised their business plan no less than 15 times.
Among other modifications, they reduced the dimensions of outdoor dining space by 800 square feet and jettisoned the outdoor sound system. They hired an engineer to conduct a sound study, created a childrenโs play area, and pledged there will be neither live nor late-night music.
Having considered the amendments to the building plan, the Torrance City Council voted unanimously on Dec. 18 to reverse the Planning Commissionโs initial decision.
A number of Redondo Beach residents are disappointed with, and distressed by, the councilโs final vote. Josefek says she and other residents who feel their concerns went unheeded are โabsolutelyโ considering taking further legal action. They have hired an environmental attorney, whose advice is that the project should undergo an environmental impact evaluation.
Riviera Homeowners Association co-president Judy Brunetti thinks Rock & Brews is a โdelightfulโ establishment, but she worries about its potential to spawn traffic in the Hollywood Riviera and drunk driving down PCH. Her primary concern, though, is that it will create noise.
Brunetti says she would have โwalked away happyโ if Rock & Brews management had agreed to build a roof over the open-air portion of the restaurant.
โThe answer from Mr. Mesko was just that thatโs not his business model,โ she said.
Zislis says El Segundo residents living adjacent to Rock & Brews have not complained about noise. Indeed, some El Segundo dwellers testified at the Torrance City Council hearing in favor of Zislis and his team.
โWhen I went to El Segundo, I told the city what I wanted to do and at that point [Rock & Brews] was an unknown,โ Zislis said. โThey took a risk, but in Torrance [the restaurant] is not an unknown and not a risk. In El Segundo weโre on Main Streetโฆhere weโre on the corner of a highway, Pacific Coast Highway, and noise from that alone will drown us out.โ
Josefek is not convinced, saying that her neighborhood observes lower decibel limits than other areas of Torrance, rendering it โso quietโ she can โhear the waves crashing half a mile away.โ
She remains skeptical of the testimony of El Segundo residents, and describes their neighborhood as a โcommercial area bounded by the 24/7 hissing of a Chevron refinery and, to the north, LAX jets.โ
Josefek and some other neighbors contracted a sound engineer to review the sound study Zislis had commissioned, and they claim the resulting report raises questions in the original study.
But Zislis and Mesko believe Rock & Brews will have only a positive impact on the Hollywood Riviera. Mesko says the restaurant will aesthetically enhance a property โin drastic need of a remodelโ, and quickly.
โWeโre going at record pace,โ he said. โWe built the El Segundo [restaurant] in 80 days and we want to get this done in three months.โ
Zislis forecasts an April opening, which he promises Simmons will attend.
โIโd like to be open by tax day โ thatโs my goal โ so we can all drink a beer,โ he said.
That beer will, for Zislis, mark the beginning of what he hopes will be a nationwide expansion. There will be some, however, that wonโt be raising a toast in celebration.
