Eatery conditions
Dear ER:
I wanted to take a moment to clarify an article regarding my restaurant, Silvio’s Brazilian BBQ [“City, eatery tilt over hours,” ER Nov. 11, 2010].
There are two “layers” of conditions on our business. The top layer was applied by the ABC as conditions on the ABC license, and the bottom layer is attached to the address through the city’s CUP.
ABC conditions prohibit our serving alcohol after midnight and impose a food/alcohol revenue ratio of 50/50. The restaurant CUP says we can serve alcohol to 2 a.m. and requires that 65 percent of our revenue be from food sales. The ABC conditions were imposed solely because the City requested them.
Our request is removing the top layer of conditions which we believe was improperly and perhaps illegally attached to our license by the city during the transfer of the license in 2008.
At that time, the city allowed other businesses in downtown Hermosa with full liquor, entertainment, and 2 a.m. closing to transfer their licenses and keep their later closing times. At the same time, they did not allow us, a restaurant, with a capacity of 45 people and a beer and wine license, to transfer our license without accepting the midnight closing restrictions listed above.
In April, Il Boccaccio won in an ABC hearing against the same conditions requested by the city on its license. We believe our situation is the same and we will obtain the same result.
We’ve lost enough money in this horrible economy, and these improper restrictions have hurt us terribly. If the city loses, Silvio’s gets its 2 a.m. closing, but still has to earn 65 percent of its revenue from the sale of food. We are not going to become a bar, but we will offer late night dining.
The question that begs to be answered is why Silvio’s is being held to one standard and everyone else to another? To show your support, email the council today: hermosabch.org/elected/council.
Doug Howarth
Managing Partner
Mayoral ‘risk’
Dear ER:
At the Nov. 9 City Council meeting, there was an item regarding Silvio’s BBQ petitioning the ABC to have the conditions removed that the city imposed two years ago, to stop serving alcohol at midnight [“City, eatery tilt over hours,” ER Nov. 11, 2010].
Their petition was based on similar supporting facts that the owners of Sharkeez provided in the IL Boccaccio case when the city tried to stop a person-to-person transfer when the business was sold. That case was won by Il Boccaccio and they can still serve until 2 a.m.
The owner of Silvio’s offered the council the opportunity to sit down and negotiate with him and his partners for just three more hours a week rather than going through the expensive (risky) ABC process.
Each council member gave a professional opinion about the issue. [Kit] Bobko stated it was a good opportunity to clean up their CUP rather than taking the risk of losing the case.
Then it came time for Mayor [Peter] Tucker to speak. The mayor went on a rant! He was vehemently against any new concentration of alcohol service on the pier. What a change from his position in the Il Boccaccio case. Sounds like favoritism to me. He stated amongst other things that Silvio’s was a “sports bar” and he was willing to “take the risk” of going to an ABC hearing and losing, like they did to Il Boccaccio. A sports bar? Really?
Thank you, mayor, for “taking a risk” that will probably set the city back instead of moving forward.
Nicolle Mitchell
Redondo Beach
Healing touches
Dear ER:
The recent enforcement of licensing requirements requiring the proper behavior of therapists and their clients is appreciated by all of the many legally licensed massage related companies that operate within the law in the South Bay [“Police stings target massage parlors,” ER Oct. 21, 2010]. They should not be painted with the same brush as the illegal businesses trying to get as much money as possible from predatory customers.
The Daily Health News recently reported that “Many studies have shown that even a brief hands-on session from a professional can elevate the feel-good brain hormones dopamine and serotonin, which are known to slow the heart rate, reduce blood pressure and cortisol levels and contribute to a deeper sleep at night.”
Name withheld by request
Re:style remembered
Dear ER:
Long live Re:style, the leaders of punk rock style in the South Bay [“Closure nears for punk fashion icon,” ER Oct. 28, 2010]!
That’s where I bought my first pair of Creepers, Bondage pants, Cramps T-shirt, Bauhaus T-shirt, Siouxsie T-shirt, Sisters of Mercy T-shirt, Black Flag T-shirt, Joy Division T-shirt, Bondage belt, Bondage bracelet, bootleg Billy Bragg & New Model Army cassettes – I could go on for hours, for years, literally, 25 years to be exact.
They rule the memories of my youth and beyond. Rodge and Danielle helped shape my musical tastes and kind of helped raise me in a way. I love them and appreciate their friendship and I completely respect them as people, as well as their taste in music and fashion.
I love that they have memories of my mother, a woman who they still ask about to this day – the woman who walked this death rock/punk rock loving kid, with credit card in hand, into their sanctuary on Pier Avenue, a place that will always live on in my heart and in my head.
Thank you for everything that you have given to us and taught us. Viva Danielle! Viva Rodge! Viva Re:style, por vida!
Arturo Trujillo
The Bourbon Saints
Dog noise
Dear ER:
I agree with Leigh about barking dogs being a nuisance and a disturbance [“Loaded dogs,” ER Letters, Nov. 4, 2010].
The problem is that the owners are just plain rude and lazy, and they really could care less about other people’s quality of life and comfort. They think that as long as the dog isn’t barking when they’re around, it’s all good.
But here in Redondo Beach we have another problem — Animal Control.
The law in RB is that no “dog or other animal can bark or make any sound or outcry which results in noise levels at the complainant’s property line for more than five (5) minutes in one hour.” That’s a total of five minutes in one hour.
However, Animal Control has manipulated that law. Unilaterally, they have decided that the law reads five minutes “continuously,” even though it says nothing of the sort. In essence, I’ve been told by Animal Control, if the dog so much as stops to take a breath or a drink of water, even though barking for 45 minutes in that hour, if there isn’t five minutes of “continuous” barking, the law is not being violated!
That little change they’ve made, all by themselves, sure makes Animal Control’s job a lot easier. Our tax dollars (not) at work.
Patrick
Redondo Beach
Poetic injustice
Dear ER:
Re: “Loaded dogs,” ER letters, Nov. 4: thanks for the inspiration. Sorry, Edgar.
The Retriever
Once upon a midnight stillness,
Sleeping in such sweet contentment,
Bundled up in dreams
and stardust that I wore.
Then, suddenly there was a bashing
A pounding sound, as if a lashing,
Ripping me from reverie,
That no one could ignore.
Here I was in bleak November
Just one happy thing, remember
Praying for the sleep to savor,
The peacefulness right to the core.
This sound persisted, I resisted,
The rapping, lapping, yapping
Just outside my chamber door
To still the beating of my heart,
I stood repeating
T’is some visitor, entreating
Pounding, pounding, through the night
Was it banging, knocking, scratching,
Might I be in danger, what could it be
I must go forth to yet explore
Alas, the stark discovery!
It is that beast that lives next door
Barking, barking, like before
His owner is that damned Lenore!
Quiet, quiet, then I swore
Quoth the Retriever, ‘Nevermore’
His voice comes weeping like the fog
A sound as dense as city smog
His face in grimace like a hog
The insidious beast is creeping
His barking, seeping, seeping
Through the cracks within my door
All day long I have been waiting
Waiting for the sound I’m hating
I just go on anticipating
I can’t complete the simplest chore
Like a soldier in a war,
The silence you must restore
Quoth the Retriever, ‘Nevermore’
I turn and I can see his face,
His tennis balls all over the place
Get down, get down,
You’ll break my vase!
I run to grab my can of mace
To banish, banish from my space
Your barking I can take no more
Hairy, hideous beast from Hell
In the back yard where you dwell
Speak now if you be fiend or hound
Go now or I will call the pound
Leave no flea or clump of fur
There is none about you I adore
Panting like a burning furnace
Your golden glean yet to be seen
Retreating out my door
Take thou snout from out my heart
Round in circles, there you dart
Hark: Stop your pooping on my floor!
Quoth the Retriever, ‘Nevermore’
Mallory and Georgette Gantner
and Edgar Allen Pooch
