Restauration in Long Beach, whose owner had been in a battle with the city over coronavirus regulations, closed its doors on 4th Street permanently on Monday, April 12.
The eatery was accused of violating health orders for staying open for outdoor in-person dining, while restaurants were prohibited from outdoor in-person dining from November to January. Despite fines and warnings from the city, Restauration owner Dana Tanner chose to stay open, and was charged criminally for violating the health orders in January.
Tanner argued that she had been operating safely outdoors, following the earlier guidelines the city set forth when restaurants were allowed to have outdoor dining. But even after restaurants were allowed to open outdoor in-person dining again later in January, Tanner’s battle with the city has continued, including issues with her health and business permits.
Tanner said she decided to close because she didn’t want to continue “constantly looking over my shoulder” with the city.
“Why am I going to try to continue to operate somewhere that doesn’t want me?” she said. “I’m sad, but I don’t regret any of it.”
Tanner had a pending application for a new business license, which was denied, and she was in the appeals process with the city when she decided to close, Deputy City Attorney Art Sanchez said. Tanner since withdrew her appeal for the business license denial, he said.
“All the action the city took, we were trying to get her into compliance,” Sanchez said. “She refused, so it turned into something else. It’s unfortunate she had to close, but we had to go through our process, I’m sure that had an effect on what her decision was.”
City Prosecutor Doug Haubert said he did not yet know if or how the closing of Restauration will impact his criminal case against Tanner, who was facing four misdemeanors. Her next court hearing was scheduled for April 22.
As of Tuesday, Tanner is the only restaurant owner to be criminally charged for violating coronavirus health orders. Haubert has said his office filed charges against Tanner mostly due to the repeated violations, after the city educated her on the law and encouraged compliance.
Tanner said she doesn’t know what the future holds. She said she opened Restauration in July 2014 with hopes of joining the growing food scene.
“It was something I thought we needed,” Tanner said, audibly tearing up. “I live in Long Beach and it made me happy.”