By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub.com Nightlife Blogger
California, like many states around the USA, are turning to pubclubbers to save the economy. Legislation is in the works to create “entertainment zones” and allow to-go alcohol sales at bars and restaurants. Already in the Golden State, such a law exists in San Francisco for special events, and with Senate Bill 969 it could expand to all days across the state.
“Getting people back out in the streets is key to the economic recovery of cities across California,” said Senator Scott Wiener, who introduced the bill. “By creating Entertainment Zones, we’re giving people a reason to go back to areas where recovery has been slow while creating a vital new revenue stream for bars and restaurants.”
This potential legislation has all sorts of possibilities running through my head. For example, would/could it apply to the beach? Only a few beaches in the state allow alcohol consumption, one being Paradise Cove in Malibu and the others are on Catalina Island. A small sliver of sand on Coronado Island, in front of the Hotel del Cornado, also has an area to have a drink, purchased from the Del’s taco shack. If so, goodbye red Solo cup!
Or at the very least, will it be legal to drink on the beach during big events, such as the Pacific Air Show and the U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, the AVP Manhattan Open – the “Wimbledon of Beach Volleyball” as it is known – and Smackfest in Hermosa Beach?
Imagine being able to take beers to go from the beer garden at Manhattan Beach’s Old Hometown Fair! From one of the bars on Hermosa Beach’s Pier Plaza to the plaza, a one-block pedestrian-only area with bars and restaurants! The plaza would certainly qualify as an entertainment zone. Of course, I have to chuckle at the reaction the anti-bars Hermosa Beach City Council would likely have to such a proposal.
Or to cruise around San Diego’s Pacific Beach, which has a couple miles of bars, with a to-go drink!
Perhaps I’m hallucinating. Or wildly dreaming. In California, a city has authority to adopt local ordinances so long as there is no express or implied preemption under state law. Hermosa, for one, would likely fight any to-go drink state law.
So don’t throw out those red Solo cups just yet.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.