Inebriated visitors to WeHo’s Halloween Carnaval this weekend will be able to sober up with a slice of pizza or a cup of yogurt or splurge on a pair of racy underwear after the bars close, thanks to push back from local businesses against a city demand that they close at 2 a.m.
Owners of businesses such as Z Pizza, Yogurt Stop and The Block Party were upset when they recently received a letter from the city reminding them to observe the standard 2 a.m. closing time. Given that this year’s Halloween Carnaval celebration is happening on a Saturday night (and rolling over until Sunday morning’s change from daylight savings to standard time), they were hoping to stay open until 3 a.m. Sunday morning.
After complaints from owners of those businesses and Genevieve Morrill, CEO of the West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, the city’s commercial code compliance manager, Jeffrey Aubel, decided to let those businesses that don’t serve alcohol remain open until 3 a.m.
“They got the extra hour, and the city is okay with it,” Aubel said. He noted that it’s rare for Halloween, which attracts several hundred thousand people to West Hollywood, occurs on a Saturday.
Bars without a special city permit must stop serving alcohol and close at 2 a.m. However Micky’s, the popular gay bar that has been closed for 30 days by the state ABC department after allegations of lewd conduct, will reopen Saturday for Halloween and stay open under a special permit until 5 a.m. Sunday. Alcohol, however, will not be served after 2 a.m.
“This is the first time the Boystown really united on something and the city listened,” said Larry Block, owner of The Block Party, an apparel retailer that caters largely to a gay crowd.
David Fanarof, owner of Z Pizza, argued that Pacific Daylight Time ends at 1:59 a.m., and a minute later the clock kicks back to 1 a.m. Pacific Standard Time. “The time is the time is the time,” Fanarof said. “You can’s say there’a legal time in the City of West Hollywood that’s different from Pacific Standard Time.
Fanarof also complained that the City of West Hollywood isn’t doing enough to promote what he sees as a major decline in business in the gay nightlife area, which is located on Santa Monica Boulevard from San Vicente to Robertson.
“It seems like the nightlife in West Hollywood’s Boystown is really dying, he said. “They don’t seem to really care about it. They’re hoisting the rainbow flag over City Hall, but about Boystown they’re not really doing anything.”
Spot on, Sheila. I don’t know what the city was thinking with this. I know they are trying to dissolve one of the largest gatherings of people in Los Angeles, but they also need to make sure people have places to go to, to hang out and sober up a bit. I mean, on a normal Saturday night, aren’t these businesses open after alcohol isn’t being served? I believe they are.
Since Halloween is on Saturday, and it is day lights savings time, everything should be allowed to stay open until 5am. NO alcohol after 2am of course. As someone who has lost people to drunk drivers it would be a tremendous service to the entire Los Angeles county as people will be driving from all over. So letting them have the extra couple of hours to sober up and SAFELY drive home could save some lives. Why not keep the bars open and serving coffee, juices and water to people as they unwind and sober up. Otherwise they wind up… Read more »
I agree with @BigShotJason … the title of this article should be changed. It is technically 2 AM PST when these businesses are closing. I understand the intention of the headline, but I still think it is confusing, and should be worded in a different way.
Maybe “… This Sunday You Have Until an Hour After the Clocks Roll Back to Buy It in WeHo”
The business that provide food and a space to hang out after the bars close should not close at the same time as the bars! That gives people no time to regain their bearings after the bars close! Foolish!
Just to clarify, businesses without special permits will be allowed to stay open until 2AM Pacific Standard Time without facing fines, not 3:00 AM. The time falls back an hour at what would otherwise be 2AM Pacific Daylight Savings Time to 1:00 AM Pacific Standard Time, affording us an additional hour to operate.
I’m extremely grateful that the city staff came through on this for us and to all those that advocated for it. You know who you are. A big thanks!!
So this argument should apply to the bars serving alcohol and there should therefore be an extra hour of service Saturday. Like the man said, “the time is the time is the time.”
You say the bars must close at 2am. But 2am becomes 1am. So do they have to close then or do they get the extra hour and close at the new 2am?
the city should let the businesses stay open to 5am or 6am that night
This story is unclear: are the establishments staying open until 3am PDT (meaning 2am PST when the clocks fall back)? Or 3am PST (meaning the clocks rolling back gives them an extra hour to stay open IN ADDITION to the establishments being granted permission to stay open another hour beyond that).
There is no 3 a.m. PDT on Sunday. The clock converts to standard time. So 1:59 a.m. is the last time under Pacific Daylight Time. One minute later the clock shifts to 1 a.m. Pacific Standard Time. The shops then shift their closing hour to 2 a.m. PST (which would be 3 a.m. if the time shift were not occurring)>