Liquor Licenses

There are more then 500 establishments in the Pico-Union/Westlake area that have liquor licenses. If Roberto Bustillo has his way, no more new licenses will be issued. Bustillo is one of the organizers of the Prevention Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse Program, a 6-month-old community project to shut down problem liquor stores and to stop the spread of new outlets. The program, part of the nonprofit Clinica Msr. Oscar A. Romero, will hold a meeting at 6 tonight at 2517 W. 7th St.

Graduate students in Pepperdine University's business school will present tonight the results of a study on the correlation between crime and alcohol outlets in Sunland-Tujunga. The study, to be presented at a public meeting, echoes some of the findings presented in a groundbreaking report published last year by USC researchers Richard A. Scribner, David P. MacKinnon and James H. Dwyer.

The doors are shut at Mr. J's in El Monte and the beer will flow no more after state and local officials revoked the bar's liquor license Wednesday, citing a long history of crime at the site and repeated code violations. El Monte police and state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control agents slapped a revocation notice on the East Valley Boulevard bar they say has been the scene of two murders and the subject of 225 police calls in the past five years.

On March 6, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously affirmed the granting of a liquor license for a Ralphs market--no discussion and no questions asked. Later that day, the council unanimously approved a liquor license for an Albertson's market. Again, not a problem and no surprises, as the council typically will approve a major corporation's application for a conditional-use permit to sell alcohol.

Stores that sell alcohol for consumption elsewhere soon may have to obtain city permits to do so. City officials this week are expected to approve a proposal that would require businesses--including liquor stores, service stations and convenience markets--to get permits before selling packaged alcoholic products. Preliminary City Council approval was given earlier this month.

After years of impassioned discourse on the link between alcohol and crime, it is practically written in stone that South-Central Los Angeles has a heavier concentration of liquor stores than most other Los Angeles area neighborhoods. Actually, that's wrong. A comparison of liquor licenses to population, the measure used by the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, shows no more booze sellers there than in most other places in Los Angeles County--and maybe fewer.

A mariachi band and a free buffet highlighted the opening of a Mexican restaurant at the former site of a controversial bar where a battle over a liquor license led the city to adopt the toughest liquor laws in the state. Casa Azteca, which opened Thursday, replaces La Nueva Copa Granada, whose owner, Pancho Valenzuela, in 1992 successfully fought attempts by community groups to deny his nightclub a license to sell hard alcohol.

"El Borrego" means "the young lamb" or "the simpleton" in Spanish. But according to police, there was nothing innocent about El Borrego in Pacoima, which on Monday became the first San Fernando Valley bar to have its license permanently revoked under a state program targeting problem liquor outlets. "They were serving minors, they were not keeping up the business, they were serving drunks and they employed 'B girls' " to increase the number of drinks sold to male patrons, said Sgt.

The newly formed Newport Beach Restaurant Improvement District, which was established last year to attract more restaurant business, is pushing for sidewalk dining, alcoholic beverages and live entertainment for small eateries. Since last summer, the Newport Beach Restaurant Assn., which governs the improvement district, has been working with the city to study whether the restaurateurs' proposal can work.

The Los Angeles City Council this week rejected a business owner's request to sell liquor from his Van Nuys market. On Wednesday, the City Council cited the proximity of several schools to the market as well as public nuisances in the area as reasons for denying a conditional use permit to Abdul Hamid Rasool, who owns EZ Market on Balboa Boulevard, north of Vanowen Street. Rasool's application was initially approved by a city zoning administrator and later by the Board of Zoning Appeals.