L.A. businesses question new rules for permanent outdoor ‘al fresco’ dining

Some restaurant owners say L.A.'s new application and rules will create serious barriers to COVID-era outdoor dining.

When Los Angeles city officials launched the city’s temporary L.A. Al Fresco program during the COVID-19 pandemic, Angela Marsden, the owner of the popular Pineapple Hill Saloon and Grill in Sherman Oaks, installed a large tent in the parking lot behind her restaurant.

She repaved the floor of the outdoor patio and installed string lights and large planter boxes with ficus trees. A large white tent stretched across 12 parking spots, covering the newly purchased tables. It cost her more than $6,000 to purchase the plants and tent but eventually it proved to be a good investment.

“People love my patio,” Marsden said in an interview with this newspaper in early May.

Shortly after the tent and tables were installed, a local running club began meeting there before going on their 3.2-mile run. And every weekend a soccer team met on the patio after the team’s games.

But some of those gatherings may come to an end as the City of Los Angeles looks to replace the current permits obtained by restaurants during the COVID-19 pandemic. Like other restaurant owners, Marsden worries that the new rules, which go into effect on July 31, won’t allow her to keep her tent.

The city established its COVID-era program “L.A. Al Fresco” in May 2020, as a temporary program during the pandemic to help hundreds of struggling restaurant owners and to boost economic vitality when widespread fear kept many customers from dining indoors.

The city launched a streamlined process for restaurants to obtain permits for outdoor dining on private property, sidewalks and parking lots. It also relaxed regulations that oversaw outdoor dining, zoning, regulations and fees.

The program was welcomed by restaurant owners, so the city has decided to make the program permanent this summer for Los Angeles restaurants who apply for the city’s new permits. Pasadena is also among the cities now creating permanent rules for popular outdoor seating.

Last year, the Los Angeles City Council approved its permanent L.A. Al Fresco program, seeking to bolster outdoor dining and support restaurants. After July 31, the temporary authorizations given out to restaurants at the beginning of the pandemic will no longer be valid.

But some restaurant owners, like Marsden, say the application process and the new on-site rules create serious barriers. For example, she said, it took her more than six weeks to apply for a new permit using the online account she created on the city’s website. Rules and guidelines have changed as well.

Since 2020, more than 3,000 restaurants in Los Angeles have participated in the temporary L.A. Al Fresco program, according to Mary Nemick, a spokeswoman with the city’s Bureau of Engineering.

“To financially assist businesses transitioning to the permanent program, the mayor has launched a Small Business Fee Reduction Program,” she wrote in an email on Wednesday, May 8. “The city has created an online process for restaurants to transition from their temporary authorization to the permanent program or for new restaurants to apply for a Revocable Permit. Staff is available to assist businesses with this process.”

But what concerns Marsden is that she learned she wouldn’t be allowed to keep the tent that covers her patio. She says the alternative chosen by the city will be to use umbrellas — which she said can blow down and can even hit people on windy days.

“Why would you take something that is working, and the only option is to do the expensive one?” she asked. “That, to me, is just wrong.”

Marsden is not alone in questioning the city’s upcoming outdoor dining rules.

Camila Perry used the city’s L.A. Al Fresco rules during the pandemic at The Oaks Tavern bar and restaurant in Sherman Oaks, which she runs, and at The Oaks Hollywood bar, which she co-owns.

At the Sherman Oaks location she offers several tables on the sidewalk outside her restaurant. “Some people still don’t want to be inside because of COVID,” Perry said in an interview this week. Her guests at The Oaks Tavern also enjoy playing cornhole in the parking lot behind the restaurant — a game in which players try to throw a small bean bag into a hole in a cornhole board. Thanks to the city’s relaxed rules, she was not required to have a license to let customers play the game.

But when she recently applied for a license to use the parking lot for cornhole, she says the city kept asking her to file more information. Perry still doesn’t know whether she will still be able to let her guests play the game.

Even with the help of the California Restaurant Association, which hosts webinars to help businesses apply for the city permit, Perry said of the city’s Al Fresco website, “It was kind of difficult to navigate.”

Three city agencies will issue permits for restaurants seeking permits under the permanent L.A. Al Fresco program, depending on whether their tables will be on a street, sidewalk, or private property: the Department of Transportation, the Bureau of Engineering and the Department of Building and Safety.

Application review fees vary depending on whether a restaurant owner already owns a permit. For those who already have a permit, it will cost $1,200 to obtain authorization from the city. New applicants will pay $1,500 for a new permit.

All fees for on-street and sidewalk dining are one-time fees and won’t require renewal, according to the L.A. Al Fresco application portal. Restaurant owners have until July 31 to renew their existing permits.

On a recent day, Marsden shared her frustrations as she waited for a city inspector to show up and inspect her patio at Pineapple Hill Saloon and Grill. She has grown frustrated trying to follow the city’s new rules while keeping her patio functioning and inviting.

“I spent so much money on the patio over the years and this year is so economically brutal,” she said. “I don’t have another dollar to give to the patio.”

Marsden, who has 17 employees, worries about keeping her business open if she loses the patio. She was dreading the moment that she might need to take her tent down or close the patio because it didn’t meet the city’s new standards.

“On the one hand I hoped the new program would be successful and easy for everyone to implement,” she said, “but there’s a lot that is just broken about it.”