4 Liquor Stores Destroyed in Riots Get OK to Rebuild

Four South-Central Los Angeles liquor stores destroyed in the spring riots on Thursday received permission to rebuild from the Los Angeles Planning Commission, despite objections that the community already has too many alcohol outlets.

A total of 10 liquor stores citywide have now received permission to rebuild since the riots. Only one store has been turned down--because of a quirk in zoning regulations. About 20 more cases are pending.

City officials have said they have limited power to prevent the rebuilding of the stores because the state regulates alcohol sales and because the owners are entitled to rebuild businesses that do not defy zoning laws.

Though three of the liquor stores met little or no opposition Thursday, neighbors called the fourth, Trojan Liquor near USC, a haven for drunkenness and loitering.

But the Vermont Avenue store was granted a new operating permit, with conditions requiring the store to hire a security guard, improve outdoor lighting and place fencing around the business.

“We are really disappointed,” said Sylvia Castillo, a member of the Community Coalition for Substance Abuse and Treatment. “The evidence was so compelling that this was a public nuisance.”

Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who represents the district around the liquor store, called the Planning Commission vote “an institutionalized form of insensitivity to the oppressive conditions to which certain parts of this community are subjected.”

Trojan liquor owner Myung Yung Kwan had argued that he should not be penalized because he was unfortunate enough to have had his business burned down in the riots. He agreed to most of the commission’s operating conditions.

Also approved for rebuilding were the Altadena Dairy outlet at 3762 S. Normandie Ave., Vermont Center Liquor at 5402 S. Vermont Ave., and St. Andrews Liquor at 1894 W. Jefferson Blvd.

All three had operated without significant complaints from the community, Castillo said.

And the owners of all three agreed to conditions to reassure neighbors that they will not become trouble spots for loitering, drug sales and other problems linked to other stores. Those conditions included limiting hours of operation, stopping sales of small quantities of ice and cups that some patrons used to drink on the street and, in one case, removing a pay telephone to prevent it from becoming a conduit for drug sales.

Community leaders intent on closing down troublesome stores are busy collecting evidence to revoke operating permits.

More than 50 applications have already been filed across the city to revoke permits for liquor stores, said Frank Eberhard, deputy planning director.

Residents in Ridley-Thomas’ district are tracking and documenting operations at more than three dozen liquor stores, with an eye toward revoking their permits.

“We are going to use every means at our disposal to rid our community of these god-awful places of business,” Ridley-Thomas said. “The kind of business they do is not good for the community.”