The Hermosa Beach City Council on Tuesday voted to modify Café Boogaloo’s Conditional Use Permit (CUP) to cap their hours at midnight and cease live entertainment by 11:30 p.m.
Council members followed the recommendation of the Planning Commission and determined that the business, located at 1238 Hermosa Avenue, was in violation of both the law and their CUP that requires a 50-50 sale of alcohol and food. In a March audit, it was found that alcohol sales exceeded 60 percent of total sales. The restaurant, which attributed only 37 to 42 percent of sales to food, was operating at more of a capacity to qualify it as a bar, city officials said.
According to a report from the Hermosa Beach Police Department, a pattern of serious incidents posed a risk to public safety. Of nine serious incidents, all occurred between midnight and 2:30 a.m.
“Which is one of the strong motivation factors for a 12 [o’clock] closure,” said Councilmember Jeff Duclos. “I think problems at the location are perpetual and probably will continue unless significant changes happen.”
The property owner, Nancy Colville, and the business operators, Nick and Frank Klutka, unsuccessfully requested a two-month continuance to implement changes and “put their house in order.”
“We’re not talking about delaying at all, but giving us time to make things happen,” Colville’s attorney Albro Lundy said, who also indicated that his client was previously unaware of the issues at the establishment.
Councilmember Michael DiVirgilio was on the fence about modifying the CUP until he became aware of serious incidents, like drug sales, fights and minors being sold alcohol.
“They arrested an 18-year-old female across the street from Boogaloo Saturday evening for public intoxication,” said DiVirgilio, reading off an incident report. “In questioning she said she got her drinks from inside Boogaloo.”
The operators told the council they were planning on hiring a new lead chef and will be making dramatic changes to the menu to have more of a focus on food. They said they also intend to overhaul the staff.
“I think if somebody did go in there… with the intent to establish a bonafide, qualified restaurant, I think its chances of succeeding would be great,” Duclos said. “I see no reason why this [modification] would impede it.” ER
