Local merchants and residents passively resist lock-down orders
This coronavirus pandemic and the recurring lockdown measures to control the virus’ spread hasn’t been easy for anyone. That’s particularly true for local restaurants that have been limited to outside patio, delivery and take away dining.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge James Chalfant put a limit on the extent of the county-level ban on outdoor dining in a Dec. 8 ruling. A state-imposed ban on outdoor dining, which supersedes any county order, was not changed by the judge’s ruling.
The county ban on service remained in place until Dec. 16, but it could not be extended as the ban was after that date.
The on-premises table service ban extended from Nov. 25 to Dec. 16. That order, which is stricter than the state’s minimum requirements for Purple Tier counties, was met with resistance and lawsuits, including one submitted by a downtown Los Angeles restaurant, Engine Co. No. 28, and one filed by the California Restaurant Association, a large industry trade group representing restaurant owners.
The Board of Supervisors were not united on the closures. Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn co-authored a motion with Supervisor Kathryn Barger to allow outdoor dining to continue at 50% capacity. The motion failed in a 2-3 vote, with Hahn and Barger in the minority. Hahn released a statement Nov. 24 expressing her opposition to the board’s decision:
I did not support the ban on outdoor dining at restaurants that takes effect tonight.
The situation we face is dire, but I don’t think we have the data to prove outdoor dining is driving the current surge, or to rationalize the number of people who will lose their jobs. I also worry it will drive more people to indoor gatherings in homes — which we know are more dangerous.
Unfortunately, the board voted 2-3 against a motion that I co-authored with Supervisor Barger to allow outdoor dining to continue at 50% capacity. The outdoor dining ban will go into effect Nov. 25, after 10 p.m.
In light of this, I have asked the LA County Development Authority to expand the eligibility for the Business Revitalization Grant to make $6 million available for restaurants that need help. It is not enough, but I am going to do everything I can to help these businesses and their workers.
Citizens opposed to the new lockdown orders have been staging silent protests at local restaurants. One of the more recent protests was staged at the Omelette Waffle shop by people calling themselves the Lawn Chair Restaurant Supporters. The seven restaurant patrons brought their own tables and chairs to the corner of 11th and Gaffey streets on Dec. 9 at 10 a.m. They set up six feet apart, then went inside one by one to order. When they received their food, instead of leaving the area they sat down and enjoyed it along the outside wall of the restaurant on the public sidewalk.
Though they were defying the outdoor shutdown order without permission or consent from the restaurant owner, they all had their specific reasons for their demonstration.
“I am here supporting local businesses should be open because everyone needs to work and the job is essential,” said restaurant supporter George Matthews.
“I am here to have breakfast and I wanted to enjoy it with some friends,” Scott Carter said.
Others wanted to express the other human cost of the shutdown.
“When the pandemic started we were given 15 days to slow the spread,” Tasha Montelongo said. “Fifteen days [is] now going [on] 9 months. A lot of good people are suffering — business owners and the workers that work with these businesses.”
For their part, the owners of the Omelette & Waffle Shop, Leslie Jones and Mona Sutton released the following statement:
Although we respect the opinion of the portion of the community that came out this morning to protest the closure of all outside dining, Leslie and I firmly believe that it’s our responsibility to completely support the current mandatory closure as all sit-down restaurants in all communities should. We stand firmly in our belief that the sooner we all unite to do everything in our power to stop the spread of COVID-19 the sooner we will be able to move on in a safe fashion for the future. We also believe this is not about choosing sides, it is about doing what is right.
As the lunch hour ended, the Lawn Chair Restaurant Supporters came as they went. They left with their signs, tables and chairs and with fuller bellies — satisfied in their civil disobedience over a sit-down breakfast.
Pacific Diner probably held the first such protest on Dec. 2. Notice of the demonstration was spread via Facebook. On the day on which the act of defiance was to take place, the restaurant’s parking lot was open with nearly every slot filled. Nearly every table in the restaurant’s back patio was filled with customers eating lunch.
But this turned out to be only the beginning.
During the weekend of Dec. 13, the South Shores shopping center on 25th Street and Western Avenue in San Pedro was the site of a carnival complete with a kid’s jumper, a petting zoo, food trucks and vendor booths but without many of its attendees wearing face masks or following social distancing rules. The event was also a protest against the current lockdown orders and Gov. Gavin Newsom, who authorized those restrictions yet attended a friend’s birthday party in Napa Valley, Calif. that didn’t observe any of the COVID-19 protocols he’d ordered.
Santa Claus served as the event’s master of ceremonies with his megaphone, at least whenever children weren’t making Christmas present demands of him. In the first hour, more than two dozen people with their families trickled in, attracted by the music playing through loudspeakers and more arrived throughout the afternoon.
The event was organized by Dr. Van Volkenburgh, owner of the Peninsula Pet Clinic, who opposes business restrictions imposed by the city, county and state governments since March.
The event was called The French Laundry Christmas after the Napa Valley restaurant where Newsom attended the birthday party.
“If the Governor is not abiding by his own guidelines, then why should we?” Diana Martinez, a veterinary nurse at the Peninsula Pet Clinic, rhetorically asked.
Several small businesses sold products and signatures were gathered on a petition to recall Newsom from office.
Despite the shutdown orders and the enforcement of social distancing practices statewide, the majority of those in attendance did not wear face masks but were not encouraged to wear them, either. Amongst the attendees, the consensus was that COVID-19 was not a hoax, but should not impose any further restrictions on businesses or citizens.