A Tale of Two Beers

How a Familiar Restaurant Won Community Support for Longer Hours—And How a New Arrival Was Left High and Very Dry

By JOHN HARLOW | Editor-in-Chief

What a difference 17 years make: Long enough to earn one local restaurant, Sam’s By the Beach, community support to sell more booze.

But a newcomer, Chipotle—also appealing for support at the Pacific Palisades Community Council to sell beer—walked away with an empty mug.

Like other retailers, Palisadian hostelries are girding themselves for the arrival of Rick Caruso’s Palisades Village, which will offer a myriad of eating and drinking opportunities.

Long-familiar names, such as Taste and Kay ‘n Dave’s—which is due to reopen after a fire in the fall—have already come before the PPCC to register support for the expensive process of requesting or extending alcohol sales licenses.

They had to overcome deep concerns about increased drunk driving, late night noise, and sales to “undesirables” and children.

It is rooted in the foundation of Pacific Palisades as a Methodist community in the 1920s.

The Highlands family favorite and the Sunset cantina won warm support from PPCC representatives as they have proven themselves over the years as trouble-free environments.

Some PPCC individuals, unlike their Methodist ancestors, will admit to enjoying a beer.

Sam Elias, who founded Sam’s by the Beach on West Channel Road in 2000, was asking for PPCC support to extend opening hours to 1 a.m. at the neighborhood bistro.

It was pointed out that the bistro is not cheap—entrees are around $30—and there is no wine without food, so that ruled out the “undesirables.”

There were some questions about valet parking, but in the end, PPCC members voted to note, in a careful proposal from Treasurer Richard Cohen, that Sam’s is a “responsible operator” with whom they have “no objections” to an extension of hours.

This is as close as the PPCC comes to endorsing drinking.

Elias now has to deal with city attorneys.

It was a harder road for Chipotle, which opened in the Village earlier this year.

They want to sell beer, but only inside the restaurant rather than out on the Sunset patio, and with a strict limit of three beers.

Valarie Sacks, representing Chipotle, said beer is not a big moneymaker in itself, but it distinguishes Chipotle from other fast food restaurants.

She was questioned by PPCC representatives: Rick Mills wanted to know how they would police patio drinking. There were concerns about teenagers drinking from unattended bottles inside the restaurant, from the shared table. This was highlighted by a member of the public, Marge Gold, who reminded the PPCC that Chipotle “caters to kids.”

To counter this, PPCC members pressed for a more sophisticated ID card reader. Sacks said that was too expensive for the predicted volume of sales. They failed to get PPCC support and, like Starbucks before them, may have to abandon their plans.

The final dismissal prompted anger at the back of the meeting place.

Rising to her feet, a woman shouted, “We live in a police state!” which to some seemed a little overstated. Another joined in, adding, “I’m just an adult who wants a drink.”

By the end of the evening, she was far from alone.