A CLOSER LOOK -- Residents fear bad buzz back at Lido Marina

Village

June Casagrande

NEWPORT BEACH -- Bad memories still buzzing in the back of their

minds, residents near Lido Marina Village fear they’re about to see a

nuisance of a nightclub return to the area.

The Newport Fish Co. restaurant has applied to the city to change its

permit to allow turning its second story from a game room into a dining

area -- a scenario all too familiar to those who live nearby.

They are quick to remember life when the Buzz restaurant operated in

the same location. Their fear: that this will let restaurant operators

turn a dining establishment with some dancing into a high-capacity

nightclub.

“We’re really up in arms about it,� said Ed Eaton, a 12-year resident of the area. “The kids come here to park, their music is cranked up, they

have parties where they leave their beer bottles. ... Neighbors here

aren’t going to live with that again.�

City officials are waiting for the restaurant owners to submit more

information -- largely about potential noise -- before they consider the

permit request.

But there is even more to it than that, said City Councilman Tod

Ridgeway.

“The real question here is: Do they want a restaurant with an

ancillary use of some dancing or is it really a nightclub?� he said.

The question could prove pivotal, given the site’s recent history.

The restaurant, located in the 3400 block of Via Oporto, is on the

site where Buzz was located before the city revoked its permit last year.

Throughout 2000, the city and owners of the restaurant went back and

forth over changes the owners were trying to make to the restaurant, even

as residents were counting up the number of times police were called to

the scene.

Between Jan. 1 and June 30, 2000, 41 calls for service and 75

officer-initiated activities occurred at the restaurant, according to a

Newport Beach Police Department memorandum.

Among those incidents, a patron was hit with a beer bottle during a

fight, there was an alleged rape of a patron by a bartender and a patron

was arrested for alleged lewd conduct on the restaurant’s dance floor.

There was also at least one report of a drug overdose at the club.

In all, 29 people were arrested at or immediately adjacent to the

restaurant.

A few years earlier, at almost the same address, a similar scene

played out. A short-lived dance club called the Thunderbird came to town.

But not for long. Almost as soon as it swung its doors open, the city

tried to shut them.

In the end, it was the county’s health department that beat the city

to the punch. The city had set an April closure deadline for the club in

1996, but the business was shut down about two weeks earlier for health

code violations.

For a time, city officials seemed so intent on keeping dance clubs out

of town that a series of restaurants -- Twin Palms, the Cannery, Snug

Harbor and Windows on the Bay -- all shuttered their doors.

The night life was low in Newport.

Buzz finally closed over the summer after a lengthy debate revolving

around its use of space designated as a game room for other purposes.

In its place came the Fish Co., but residents are swarming to make

sure they won’t endure those same problems Buzz brought.

“The closure of Buzz was a sigh of relief to many of us who endured

the blaring car radios, tire screeching, public urination, Buzz customers

parking on our already crowded streets leaving their beer bottles and

trash, and public gatherings until the early morning hours,� according to

an e-mail alert sent out by a residents’ group.

Ridgeway said he needs to hear all the evidence before he decides

whether to support the Newport Fish Co.’s request.

“If we go on historical data and they have not modified their use, I

would not be supportive,� he said.

He added that some operating restrictions may be necessary to keep the

restaurant open.

“We might put some very stringent conditions on things like hours of

operation,� Ridgeway said.

* June Casagrande covers Newport Beach. She may be reached at (949)

574-4232 or by e-mail at o7 [email protected] .