Alice’s supporters ask for 2 more years

Two dozen people fervently asked the City Council this week to find a way to keep iconic restaurant Alice’s Breakfast in the Park open, despite rent trouble that has had city staff looking for a new occupant.

Presenting a petition with more than 1,900 signatures that asked council members to keep giving owner Alice Gustafson, 77, a discount on her lease, residents repeatedly asked council members to let Gustafson stay on for two more years, when she plans to retire.

“Please, stop and search your soul,” resident Linda Peterson said. “There’s no price for a place like Alice’s restaurant. It cannot be replaced. It is a jewel of Huntington Beach that must be kept for other generations.”

An enthusiastic audience clapped on behalf of the restaurant several times, but most of all when Gustafson herself spoke.

“I would very much like to finish the job I started,” she said.

City staff, however, said they had tried to make a deal with Gustafson, but couldn’t come to an agreement. In previous years, Alice’s Breakfast in the Park has received discounted rent in exchange for work on the building, but because it needs termite treatment and other repairs, the city was forced to ask for full price, Economic Development Director Stanley Smalewitz said.

“When we couldn’t reach an agreement we went out for a request for proposals from interested restaurateurs,” he said. “We did not receive any response or proposal from any members of the existing Alice’s restaurant.”

Smalewitz said giving special consideration to Gustafson would be unfair to other concessions that rent from the city.

Mayor Debbie Cook said she was surprised by the turnout for the restaurant when nothing was on the council agenda.

“I’ve never been approached by Alice or her family,” Cook said. “It feels a little bit like we’re being caught off guard because we haven’t been approached by the owners in trying to seek some resolution to this.”

Gustafson’s grandson Ryan Downey said he wished he could give the city the money it asked for. But he then spoke against the city’s requests for a replacement vendor because they offered the possibility of an alcohol license in the park.

“That was the way it was marketed, that they wanted a bistro with alcohol,” he said. “I don’t know how many more Starbucks we need. Do you need Starbucks with vodka shots?”

City staff are looking at proposals they received to replace the restaurant and are expected to make a recommendation to the City Council in about a month, Smalewitz said. The final decision on a vendor would go to the council, but until then, Alice’s remains open.

MICHAEL ALEXANDER may be reached at (714) 966-4618 or at michael.alexander@latimes.com.