7 x 7 created this great video featuring Dawn Holliday, co-owner of Slim's, Guy Carson, owner of Cafe Du Nord, and Amy Miller of Sonicliving.com speaking about the Alcoholic Beverage Control's recent "crackdowns" on all-ages venues. The clubs' funds are all being depleted from fighting lawsuits, and staff morale is very low since they don't know how long they'll have jobs. Guy Carson has been in the business for twenty years and has never had any ABC violations. His question is, Why now, all of a sudden? His answer is that the folks in Sacramento are simply forcing their worldview onto San Francisco, which is pretty scary.

The frustrating part of the whole situation is that these venues aren't breaking any real laws, just an arbitrary rule set by the ABC that the agency isn't even required to enforce. The rule dictates that a venue needs to sell 50 percent food and 50 percent alcohol. According to the Guardian, ABC spokesman Jim Carr claims that only one unnamed venue is actually being cited specifically for the rule, whereas Café du Nord, Slim's, Swedish American Hall, Great American Music Hall, Rickshaw Stop, Bottom of the Hill, and ten other venues are being held accountable for deviating from their original business plans, in which they had been asked to "predict" the amount of food and alcohol they would sell.