No Live Music or Late Closing for Port Restaurant
The Port Restaurant should not stay open until 1 a.m. or have live music, the Newport Beach Planning Commission decided in a unanimous vote Thursday night.
The decision came at the end of a four-hour meeting that included a break for a 911 call and one gavel-hammer call to order by Commission Chairman Robert Hawkins.
Ali Zadeh, owner of The Port, declined to comment after the hearing. “This is a lot to digest,” he said. “The truth will come out.”
The Port’s request was the first agenda item, but it was delayed while city workers found a projector for Zadeh to use in a presentation. His presentation included information on the number of businesses leaving Corona del Mar, as well as sound study information that showed the restaurant met city standards for noise. After that presentation, several people testified both for and against Zadeh’s application to open for lunch, have live music and extend his closing time to 1 a.m.
A few neighbors testified that they frequently saw Port patrons urinating on the streets and in their yards, fighting and having sex outside the restaurant.
“People are vomiting all over the place, til 2, 3 in the morning,” said Ann Stonick.
A few minutes later, Port supporter Shadan Shamloo disagreed. “People aren’t vomiting,” she said. Several members of the audience spoke up, saying “Ooooooh” loudly, until Hawkins banged his gavel and said, “Let the speaker testify!”
A few minutes later, another audience interrupted to say that a woman who was there in support of The Port had become ill. Hawkins ordered a recess, and a detective on hand to testify against the restaurant called 911 while a nurse who happened to be in the Council Chambers checked on the woman and asked if anyone had an aspirin to give her.
Paramedics took the woman to the lobby, and the meeting was called to order. A few minutes later, the woman said she felt better and testified that she loved The Port; after the hearing ended she felt good enough to go there for dinner.
In the end, the commissioners followed the staff report recommendation to deny Zadeh’s application. Among the concerns were parking problems if the Port Theater reopens in the future, adding traffic digestion to the area.
Filed under: Home (General)
I live close by to Port and frequent the restaurant and bar now and then. I am extremely dissapointed with the commission’s decision. There were blatent LIES & false allegations made from some of my neighbors, during the course of this case, for instance someone said that they heard a couple having sex outside or on somebody’s lawn, WTH? the people that go there are respectable ADULTS, professional working people from all types of businesses, I am guessing the average age has to be around 35, this is not a university hang-out for 20 year olds. People go there to unwind, meet friends, eat food, have a drink, laugh, make new friends, obviously not something that some of my neighbors are interested in doing. Urinating outside and fights? and you have proof and know for a fact that the people doing this came from Port? To make up stories like this is ridiculous and ILL-HEARTED, this is an insult to me and the people that go there. You can tell that whoever made up these falsehoods never visited Port or spoke with the owner about any issues they had. Also some of the staff are trying to make a living by working there, why would you want to take money away from honest people trying to earn a living, especially during poor economic times. We should be supporting our local businesses not trying to close them down.
Parking concerns if the Port theater reopens? What? you don’t businesses to survive in CDM, tax money coming in to pay your salaries, this is not logical! I am ceo for a well known high tech company, and I am now going to take action and start by finding out who is on the planning commission, how they were elected, what they are being paid, something stinks here!
[...] Zadeh did not reply to multiple requests for comment. Read our earlier coverage here. [...]
[...] The commission made its unanimous decision at its Sept. 17 meeting, denying Port owner Ali Zadeh’s request to stay open an extra hour until 1 a.m., to have lunch hours and to have live music. While a crowd of supporters testified that The Port was a high-end establishment with a neighborhood vibe, others testified that the restaurant was trying to become a nightclub, and its patrons were guilty of being noisy and worse when they left the Heliotrope Avenue location. Read our story about that hearing here. [...]