Ban on Smoking in Beverly Hills Fails to Clear Air in Restaurants

All Sheldon Pollack wanted when he dined at an upscale Beverly Hills restaurant recently was some duck and champagne. What he got was a taste of Beverly Hills’ 2-month-old no-smoking ordinance.

Smoke in his face, a fight with other diners and an encounter with police weren’t exactly the memorable experiences that the nonsmoking Los Angeles contractor had in mind, and he has no plans to go back soon.

Beverly Hills in April became the second city in the nation to ban smoking in restaurants and most public places. Under the landmark law, only bars, restaurants in the city’s 18 hotels, private banquet rooms and outside dining areas are exempt. The pioneering law is being watched closely as a possible model for handling the emotionally charged issue nationwide.

Mean Little Encounters

But so far, many diners--nonsmokers and smokers alike--are complaining that the law stinks more than the stogies and cigarettes ever did. From the trendy cafes on Rodeo Drive to La Cienega’s Restaurant Row, there are reports of harried restaurant managers refereeing mean little encounters between customers.

And restaurateurs complain that business is down as much as 30% as smokers and their companions flee to Los Angeles where cigarettes aren’t banned. As a result, many have invented ways to get around the ordinance. Since smoking is allowed in bars, owners have proclaimed large portions of their restaurants as “the bar area.” A few have spent thousands of dollars on expensive liquor licenses to accomplish that.

So far, Beverly Hills police have written only one smoking citation, and have gone out on seven calls. They have received 30 complaints, but most of those were the day after the diners saw someone smoking and wanted to gripe about the restaurants not enforcing the law, Lt. William Hunt said. Under the law, restaurant owners’ only responsibility is to post no-smoking signs. Customers must do the complaining to police.

Pollack, a nonsmoker, said he is not going back to Beverly Hills to dine until the city either “enforces the ordinance or creates legitimate smoking and no-smoking areas.”

The contractor said he dined in Beverly Hills especially because of the city’s no-smoking law. But soon after he and his wife sat down for dinner in the high-tech Oriental Mr. Chow, he noticed a cloud of cigarette smoke hovering over a nearby table and moving fast in his direction.

“And we had just been talking about how nice it would be to have tension-free meals again. You know, where you don’t have to nervously watch the woman at the table next to you reach into her purse, pull out a cigarette and ruin dinner for you with a flick of a match,” he said.

Pollack said he politely reminded the smoking diners about the law and they put the cigarettes out. But a few minutes later, they lit up again, as did diners at yet another table. Pollack complained to the manager.

Huffed Out of Restaurant

The manager told him he had to call the police. Pollack stomped upstairs to use a phone. He then gave the offenders his business card because “I wanted them to know who was turning them in.” The offenders tore up the card and huffed out of the restaurant as dozens of startled diners looked on, he said. When the police showed up, all the cigarettes were out, and Pollack was out $166 for a dinner for three (before tips) that had cooled on the plate while he fumed.

Despite such confusion, city officials say the law is working well. “It just takes time to educate the public,” said Fred Cunningham, the city’s community services director. Health inspectors are “refining enforcement procedures,” stepping up inspections to make sure restaurants don’t go overboard in setting up bar and lounge smoking areas, he added.

Suit Against City

The Beverly Hills Restaurant Assn. is continuing with its suit against the city, contending that the law is unconstitutional and discriminatory and is disastrous to business, spokesman Rudy Cole said. The City Council has agreed to meet regularly with the group to “see if there is any other way to have a smoke-free Beverly Hills.” The association, which once opposed an ordinance that would divide the restaurants into smoking and no-smoking areas, now favors it over the present law, Cole said. “Then everybody would be happy.”

But in the meantime, keeping everybody happy is not easy.

Tony Mendola, manager at the Cafe Beverly Hills, said he used to have a regular happy customer--a 93-year-old man who likes cigars. Mendola recently told the man’s nurse-companion to tell him about the law. Watching from the cash register, Mendola saw the diminutive woman gesturing and talking loudly to the man. The man yelled, “I’ve been smoking 58 years, I’m not going to give it up.”

‘He’s Found Somewhere Else’

Finally the old man reached up and whacked his nurse in the midsection. Mendola said: “I haven’t seen him lately. I presume he’s found somewhere else to smoke.”

Mendola’s restaurant was also the scene of the only citation given a smoker so far. “The guy was really loud yelling about his rights, so we called the police ourselves. They got him.” Court records show the man recently paid a $100 fine. (Smokers can be fined up to $500.)

Owners say they are the ones losing the most because of the ordinance. Last year, the 125 local restaurants generated $100 million in gross sales. Some say their business for April and May is down 30%.

But city officials maintain that it is too early to assess the economic impact of the no-smoking law. They have suggested that business may have been down for seasonal reasons, such as income tax deadlines and spring vacations.

Help Laid Off

Joe Patti, who has owned La Famiglia for 13 years, said business is off 32% and he has laid off one waiter and one kitchen helper. Patti has a bar in his dining room but said that hasn’t helped keep customers. And he noted that the increase in nonsmoking customers that city officials envisioned when they passed the law has not materialized.

“What happens is that the one smoker in the dinner group is dictating where everybody goes to eat and that, of course, is to Los Angeles, where people can smoke,” he said.

Said his bartender, Cynthia Winn: “I’m mad as hell at the City Council. Because of them you are looking at one poor bartender. When there’s no crowd, there’s no tips.”

Christopher Niklas, vice president of the Bistro and nearby Bistro Garden, said he will close the Bistro during lunch because business is so dismal. However, he said, the Garden’s noon trade is fine because he allows smoking there. He explained that he considers most of the Garden an outdoor eating place because of its open patio doorways, even though it has ceilings and walls. The Bistro is enclosed, thus no smoking.

Business Down 35%

Lou Saadat, owner of Your Place, caters to many Mideastern customers who like to smoke. As a result, he said, business is down 35% and he laid off two waiters and two kitchen workers.

He first tried to entice smoking customers by setting up tables on the sidewalk. But his customers didn’t like it, and neither did the city health inspectors who said he was obstructing foot traffic. So now he has borrowed $40,000 to buy a liquor license and remodel his restaurant to include a large bar area where people can smoke.

“You have to do something to try to save all your hard work,” he said.

Those providing restaurants with goods and services also notice a decline in business. Louis Zipperman, president of Master Linen, said the Beverly Hills establishments aren’t using as many tablecloths, uniforms and napkins weekly as they did before the law. Likewise, Barney Grayson of Superior Meats noted that the “fancy restaurants aren’t ordering as much as they used to. I think they are really hurting.”

‘There Aren’t Long Lines’

The Beverly Hills hotel-restaurants, where smoking is allowed, were expected to be helped by the ordinance, but that does not appear to be the case. Sheila O’Brien, Beverly Hills Hotel spokeswoman, said that a few heavy smoking regulars such as Milton Berle and George Burns are patronizing the exclusive Polo Lounge more frequently now. But for the most part, she said, “there is no radical change. We’ve always been busy, but suddenly there aren’t long lines outside the door.”

For 10 years, Jimmy’s has been touted as a quintessential Beverly Hills establishment, even though at 201 South Moreno Drive, it is technically in Los Angeles.

“You could say I’ve been telling a few people how we’re 10 feet inside the L.A. line,” owner Jimmy Murphy said. He noted that business has picked up about 5% in the last few weeks, possibly because he “moved” his place to Los Angeles.