Red Onion Promises to Prevent Discrimination

In the wake of patrons’ charges of racial discrimination, officials of Red Onion Restaurants met with Santa Ana and county officials Thursday and vowed that any instances of blacks and Latinos being turned away from the popular disco establishments will not “happen again.”

Stephen Solomon, vice president of the Carson-based restaurant chain, also said the 14 Red Onion restaurants in Southern California began a policy last week of documenting in detail all incidents of patrons being turned away.

He said, for example, that 15 people were refused entrance to the Red Onion in Fullerton on Wednesday night for varying dress code violations but that only one of the patrons had been a member of a minority.

Professor to Review Code

“We want anyone to come to our place. We just want them to be dressed properly. We don’t want to exclude anybody,” Solomon said.

Company officials said they have hired Nat Trives, a California State University, Los Angeles, professor and consultant, to “thoroughly review the dress code and admission policies and practices to assure that the Red Onion (operates) in a totally non-discriminatory fashion. . . .”

“Apparently we have the perception of a problem and it is that which we hope will not reoccur,” said Ralph Saltsman, a Red Onion lawyer.

Despite the company’s announcement, a crowd of about 125 people demonstrated at the Red Onion on Sandpointe Avenue in Santa Ana Thursday night. The multiracial group, which calls itself Coalition Against Discrimination, was formed six weeks ago to protest the alleged discrimination by the restaurants.

“We feel that after the media attention dies down, these people are going to start discriminating again,” said Greg McFall, a group leader who said he was a former Red Onion employee.

As the protesters chanted “no more discrimination,” the restaurant was serving a capacity “Happy Hour” crowd. Many of the patrons were not aware that the demonstration was being staged outside.

One black patron, Earl Campbell of Costa Mesa, said he had been turned down at the restaurant earlier for reasons varying from improper identification to not wearing a collared shirt. “But I come here because it’s the closest place to home,” he said.

Another black patron, Howard Brown of Santa Ana, called the demonstration “absurd” and said he had never had a problem entering the establishment, adding: “I’ve never seen any indication of this place being racially biased.”

About 50 complaints of racial discrimination have been lodged against the disco during the last six months. The complainants alleged that Red Onion personnel applied their dress code unevenly to keep too many members of minority groups from entering. Others contended that they were denied admission because fault was found with their identification cards or driver licenses.

Stung by such criticism, Solomon and other company officials met privately Thursday for two hours with Santa Ana City Manager Robert C. Bobb, the city’s Latino relations coordinator and members of the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce.

Solomon and Bobb subsequently issued a joint statement in which they pledged to work together to promote better relations with the Red Onion and its patrons. Bobb did not talk to the news media after the meeting.

“The policy of the Red Onion is that no acts of discrimination will be condoned under any circumstances,” the statement said.

Bias Not Admitted

“We want to establish positive community relations and this is an effort we are making,” Solomon added after the meeting.

Without admitting that the restaurant chain discriminates against minorities, Solomon did say that “we will not let this happen again,” an apparent reference to complaints that blacks, Latinos and other minorities have been turned away because of their race. Solomon said the allegations against the Red Onion would serve as “positive learning steps.”

Red Onion officials also announced that they will meet next week with representatives of Santa Ana minority communities in an effort “to strengthen lines of communication.”

Solomon said the Red Onion chain counts 40% minority employment and will set up a program to give minority students internships at its restaurants. He said the chain will also award scholarships to needy students in Santa Ana.

However, one Red Onion manager, who spoke on the condition that he not be identified, said he doubted that the new policy would be enforced for very long.

“I seriously doubt that in a month from now they will be doing anything different than what they did a month ago,” the employee said. “The company is just downplaying the whole thing and pretending they did not ever have a discriminatory policy.

‘Caught in the Middle’

“We (the employees) feel caught in the middle. They made it this way, but they are putting it on us. If anything happens now, it’s (the managers’) fault.”

Despite the Red Onion’s official statement Thursday, the district administrator of the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing said her agency’s investigation into the discrimination complaints will continue.

“This does nothing to our investigation. It has nothing to do with us. But we could conceivably resolve the complaints with them (Red Onion officials),” Dorothy Davis said. Solomon said the company would cooperate with “any governmental investigations.”

Charges Go Back 6 Months

Although the discrimination allegations have circulated for the last six months, it was only a week ago that Red Onion officials began publicly responding to the charges. Last week, Martin Reichman, a former Red Onion bar manager, said the company promoted “a cleaning up the crowd” policy by turning away some minorities.

Reichman told The Times on Sunday that he plans to sever his ties with the company. However, Solomon said the 24-year-old bar manager had been offered a similar position at another Red Onion in Los Angeles, but that Reichman had yet to show up for work. Reichman, whose telephone had been in working order as recently as Tuesday but was “out of service” Thursday, was unavailable for comment.

Solomon added that employees who might have discriminated against patrons would not be fired.