Compton Restaurant Closed After Failing to Pay Debts

A struggling family restaurant in Compton has been closed down by a real estate partnership that includes Brotherhood Crusade President Danny Bakewell after the business’s owner was unable to meet a deadline for paying his debts.

“This . . . is devastating to me,� said Jim Jones, owner of Mr. J’s Family Restaurant and Sports Bar at the Compton Towne Center.

Jones, 70, opened the 8,000-square-foot restaurant 12 years ago as a Sizzler franchise and a cornerstone of Compton’s largest shopping center. But after years of success, the restaurant’s business began flagging and Jones fell behind in his lease and other fees.

After financial problems mounted, Jones was faced with imminent closure two months ago. But the restaurant was allowed to remain open after Royce Esters, head of the NAACP’s Compton branch, and others protested the closure and picketed Bakewell. They were troubled that a man who has championed economic empowerment for African Americans would be instrumental in shutting down a black-owned business.

The protests led to a meeting among developers, community leaders and others, in which Bakewell agreed to give Jones another 30 days to pay $35,000, about half of his debt.

Even the new deadline proved impossible for him to meet, Jones said Wednesday.

“I came to the business and three sheriff’s [deputies] were leaving� after padlocking the restaurant July 3, said Jones, a retired sheriff’s deputy.

Late Wednesday, Bakewell said he was disappointed that the business was closed but had no option after Jones could not meet the revised timetable for erasing some of his debt.

“The bottom line is I can help him, but I can’t put customers in his restaurant,� Bakewell said. “For whatever reasons . . . he is not able at this point to operate a restaurant that the community finds acceptable.�

For some time, Jones has claimed that Bakewell thwarted his ability to turn the restaurant around by refusing to sell him the land the business sits on so he could secure a loan to pay off his debts. The refusal is especially troubling, Jones said, because several other businesses at the center have been allowed to buy their land.

“He is doing this out of spite,� Jones said of Bakewell. “If he asks you to do something and you don’t do it . . . he’ll come after you.�

But Bakewell countered that the agreement to bring Jones to the Compton shopping center never included an option to buy the land. In cases involving other businesses, the option was included, Bakewell said.

“The fact is, he has not been able to make good on any of the commitments that he made,� Bakewell said of Jones. “I don’t have an answer for it and I am saddened by it. But part of the reality is that when you are vigilant in recruiting . . . African American businesses, there is a possibility that some will not survive and this unfortunately is one that will not.�

There was no comment from the Compton chapter of the NAACP.