The City Council approved a permit for an open-front restaurant on Hermosa Avenue, although heated discussion preceded a unanimous vote.
The conditional use permit will allow a new restaurant called Hot’s Kitchen to open on Hermosa Avenue with a rollup door that can open the front wall to the sidewalk.
Early in the hearing, Mayor Pete Tucker expressed concern that Hot’s would open as a restaurant and then morph into a sports bar, with loud noise spilling into the neighborhood, where some homes stand within a half-block or so.
“I’m not a fan of the rollup door whatsoever,” Tucker said. “I think staff made a big mistake [in recommending approval]”.
“It seems to me it’s a significant change in the use of this building, and an intensification of alcohol downtown,” Councilman Jeff Duclos said.
Tucker said he had been burned by owners turning restaurants into bars, and said a Hot’s website was “promoting this as a sports bar, plain and simple.”
Hot’s owner Sean Chaney said the restaurant would have only two TV sets, making it impossible to function as a sports bar.
He said he is a chef by trade and prides himself in the food he serves. Chaney said his Hot’s Cantina in the Los Angeles area has drawn no complaints from state alcohol regulators or local police.
Councilman Kit Bobko said Hot’s would close at 10 p.m. and serve beer and wine but not spirits, and predicted it would “attract people who come into town to eat dinner instead of drink dinner.”
Before the council vote, Tucker repeated some of his concerns. But after first calling Hot’s a “Trojan horse,” he appeared to soften to the idea of Greeks bearing gifts.
“I don’t have a problem with the rollup doors,” he said, adding that weather would probably cause them to be closed much of the time.
Council members pointed out that Hot’s would be regulated by the city’s noise ordinance and other standard measures. ER
