Live shows go belly up after complaints
By Daily Bruin Staff
April 22, 2002 9:00 p.m.
NAM PHO Gypsy Cafe featured belly dancers for years, but did not
have an entertainment permit.
By Christian Mignot
Daily Bruin Contributor
The debate over entertainment in Westwood has emerged once again
after police asked two popular restaurants to remove the live shows
they were providing without permits.
While entertainment is not completely banned in Westwood, local
homeowners have enough clout to ensure unfavorable business plans
are blocked.
Gypsy Cafe and Habibi Cafe, two trendy Middle-Eastern-style
restaurants on Broxton Avenue, once hired belly dancers to walk
around tables, performing for patrons to complement the food
service.
Additionally, Gypsy Cafe had stand-up comedy every Wednesday
night, and Habibi Cafe had a disc jockey mixing music on
weekends.
But following a citizen complaint in February, police ordered
both owners to get rid of all entertainment because they did not
have permits.
Joseph Melame, owner of Gypsy Cafe for 23 years, said his
establishment had been providing entertainment since 1995, when a
then-undergraduate student at UCLA performed weekly, unpaid comedy
shows.
Two years ago, two waitresses began performing belly dances on
selected weekend nights. The shows were very popular but discrete,
providing clean family entertainment, Melame said.
Mickey Fathi, owner of Habibi Cafe, has also been confronted
with permit breach problems. He was asked to get rid of the DJ
because he did not have a permit for amplified music, and several
times, police asked his establishment to ensure that the sidewalk
in front of the property remained clear for passage when people
were waiting in line to be seated.
Though police knew such entertainment was taking place at Gypsy
Cafe, Melame said, they chose not to enforce regulations because
the shows were low-key and unrelated to banned forms of
entertainment in Westwood, such as nightclub dancing.
Mike Moore, a police officer for West Los Angeles Police, said
entertainment was most likely allowed to proceed over the last few
years because there were no citizen complaints.
“The Vice unit, which is in charge of investigating
permits, isn’t going to concentrate on restaurants when there
are three bars in Westwood where underage drinking could
potentially be occurring,” he said.
The owners need to apply for a conditional use permit through
the city’s planning department, should they wish to continue
providing such entertainment, Moore said.
Acquiring a permit for entertainment is a complex process that
includes a non-refundable deposit of $4,539 and a hearing where the
applicant presents plans to the public.
Despite the profitability associated with the entertainment,
both restaurant owners believe applying for a conditional use
permit would be too much of a business risk.
“We know that if one person stands up and says no to your
proposal, you lose the permit,” Melame said. “That
means you lose your deposit.”
The chances of getting a permit in Westwood are close to none,
because local residents are “notorious” for fighting
anything that might bring more people ““ and in their eyes,
problems ““ into the Village, Melame said.
The two major homeowner associations in Westwood were
unavailable for comment after repeated attempts to reach them over
the course of a couple weeks.
Owners of Zone d’, a new adult bookstore on Gayley Avenue,
were forced to reduce the amount of adult paraphernalia on the
store floor to comply with a technicality ““ a law the city
enforced as a result of homeowner pressure ““ that banned the
establishment of an adult store within 500 feet of a residential
area.
Holly Barnhill, marketing director for the local business
association Westwood Alliance, said residents are afraid to bring
entertainment back because of problems that may accompany it.
In the late 1980s, when Westwood was in its prime, popularity
brought gang activity to the area, culminating in a drive-by
shooting that killed a young woman.
Residents are afraid that increased entertainment would mean a
possible reoccurrence of such days, Barnhill suggested.
Both Habibi Cafe and Gypsy Cafe admitted that the entertainment
they provided was highly successful for business.
“We’re still busy, but not as busy,” Fathi
said. “We are perhaps not as much of a hit
anymore.”
The entertainment also contributed to the atmosphere both
establishments try to portray.
The belly dancing gave extra spark to the film-set-like Habibi
Cafe, energizing crowds of twenty-somethings spouting hookah
tobacco smoke while sitting on the leopard skin couches under the
bright pirouetting colored lights.
It added tangible culture for patrons of Gypsy Cafe,
complementing the varnished wood exterior and cosmopolitan outdoor
seating.
“When (belly dancers) started performing, the place went
crazy,” Melame said. “We were so packed those nights,
you couldn’t move.”
Melame believes a greater presence of entertainment is the tonic
Westwood needs to boost business and help the underperforming local
economy.
Westwood is constantly losing business to Third Street
Promenade, Century City and Universal City Walk, he said.
“It’s a tragedy that half of Westwood Boulevard is
empty, even though this should be an area where business space is
in high demand and where there should be no vacancies,” he
said. “More entertainment is the remedy to this.”
Barnhill denied the business slump and said almost 97 percent of
commercial slots are occupied, with many vacancies filled in the
last year.
Fifth district councilman Jack Weiss said one of his major goals
is to revitalize Westwood Village.
“I would like to see more of a sidewalk cafe-type or a
Saturday afternoon strolling atmosphere,” he said.
Making changes in Westwood is difficult because there are many
constituencies, each with different ideas about the types of
investment that should be taking place in the Village, he said.
And more entertainment will not necessarily be a bonus to the
local economy. It may bring more people in, Barnhill said, but it
may encourage the spending of less money at retail stores, which
constitutes 60-70 percent of businesses in Westwood.
“It’s a double-edged sword,” she said.
“More entertainment would benefit some businesses, but it
needs to be controlled.”
Benefits would include greater customer traffic and visibility
for the local retail, she conceded.
“Overall, it is important to remember the true nature of
Westwood Village,” Barnhill said. “Westwood is a
pedestrian neighborhood with tremendous history, in which the
balance between students, residents, the retail community and
cultural institutions should be preserved.”
Melame said it is important to be selective of entertainment
that enters Westwood, steering clear from live dancing or discos
and emphasizing lighter forms, such as comedy and restaurants with
live music.
“(Westwood) has to be a center for family
entertainment,” he said. “I am ready to fight to keep
Westwood respectable.”
Some students disagreed that family entertainment is the
solution.
“I don’t know if family entertainment would work in
Westwood,” said Amy Forrest, a fourth-year molecular cellular
developmental biology student. “It’s very much a
college town and it should be geared toward students.”
Weiss, however, agreed with Melame. He said Westwood should
remain distinct from such places as Third Street Promenade and
Sunset Strip.
He also cited existing entertainment in the area, such as Geffen
Playhouse, Hammer Museum and Pauley Pavilion.
But Melame remains unconvinced.
“Friday, Saturday and Sunday night in Westwood is
dead,” Melame said. “Let’s do some good and
bring (entertainment) back.”
