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The Chronicle came out with an article on Saturday, which was described by The Bay Bridged as a must-read, regarding the Alcoholic Beverage Control's (who are currently hiring, BTW) threat to shut down legendary, all-ages live music venues, such as The Fillmore, Great American Music Hall, Slims, Bottom of the Hill, Cafe Du Nord, and DNA Lounge.
Surprisingly, the issue isn't over alcohol or safety, but rather, ABC has been nitpicking over stipulations regarding food sales in the clubs' liquor license application forms. All of the clubs fighting the ABC are licensed to operate as all-ages venues because they sell food. State law does not dictate what the ratio of food to alcohol and ticket sales should be for the type of license that all of the clubs have, yet ABC is using minor discrepancies to penalize the clubs for not having food sales that are equal to or higher than alcohol sales.
Update: State Senator Mark Leno and Supervisor Sophie Maxwell both sent letters to the attorney general's office in February requesting legal opinions on ABC's authority, but the office is still in litigation with ABC and cannot yet comment on the matter. Leno is apparently meeting with ABC officials today. Complain to the local ABC office here.
As Tim Benetti, co-owner of Bottom of the Hill said in the Chron article, "Thirty or 35 percent of our sales come from food on our best days. If ABC gets what they want, we will go out of business. Can you imagine San Francisco without Slim's, Bottom of the Hill or Cafe Du Nord? I can't." We shudder at the thought.
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what the fuck?
who do I call or email to complain about this bullshit?
If even a single one of those venues gets shut down by this, I'll volunteer every hour I can to anyone that runs against the people responsible for either not reigning in the power trips at the ABC, or the people directly responsible or whatever. Especially if it's Great American that gets hit, that's probably my favorite place in the city and I will be mad as hell if the ABC decides to just make up their own shit.
you can find info to complain here: http://www.abc.ca.gov/ContactUs.html
That's stupid. Clearly ABC has no interest in our complaints. We need to find who has control over ABC and go to THEM.
Can't we just get rid of this completely unnecessary, wasteful government bureaucracy?
Why wouldn't these clubs just not allow minors?
Is the meager cover of the maybe two dozen minors you get at a show so lucrative that you'd risk losing your license over it?
There are a lot more than two dozen at many of the GAMH shows. I work at a bar around the corner, and have seen lines around the block, consisting primarily of teens. It's all about having the flexibility to cater to anyone.