The clock is ticking for the popular patio at Pura Vita in West Hollywood. The restaurant has started a change.org petition to protest City Hall’s decision to rescind their outdoor dining permit. Unless the city backtracks, this weekend will be the final time diners will be able to eat outdoors; the patio will be dismantled Wednesday. The city recently overhauled the regulations that govern outdoor dining; Pura Vita seems to be its first casualty. Sign the petition here: https://www.change.org/p/save-pura-vita-s-outdoor-patio?recruiter=1295786839&recruited_by_id=3b72a830-affd-11ed-86e1-470195af5a9f&utm_source=share_petition&utm_campaign=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_content=cl_sharecopy_35532510_en-US%3A3
We need our parking and sidewalks back. Enough with the outzones. The federal goverment has declared the pandemic over so in a legal way its done. Enough of these eyesores.
Would it be possible to only have the furniture out at night? There would be nothing in the daytime other than lamp posts and the wooden fence?
These are not patios. They are pop up seating on city sidewalks and streets.
When the City was building medians to glorify the streets apparently they overlooked many aspects about making West Hollywood more hospitable with the street scapes ie. simply by creating space in front of storefronts that they presumed would be attracting more amenable restaurant businesses. There were several examples: Sunset Plaza and even refurbishing the courtyard complex at 8555 Santa Monica Blvd which is currently under appeal after its nine hundredth iteration. The City Planning & Development Department apparently never evaluated what they had. We now witness a stream of disconnected projects. This was not a difficult aspect of City Planning… Read more »
Actually the city did just that when they redid the street in the 90’s after taking Route 66 over from the state. They shrank the (former railroad right-of-way) median down quite a lot and widened the sidewalks through the “boys town” section. That allowed the cafes and bars to have the outdoor seating they had before the pandemic.
Thank you I realize that but it seems they didn’t go far enough leaving mid city & the East side as it was. You seem to know more so is there something I missed?
There simply wasn’t the land. The median was at its widest between La Cienega and San Vicente where it split into multiple tracks that fed into that is now the METRO bus lot and the PDC. It became narrower West of there as it crossed over into Beverly Hills. At the East the tracks went North on the diagonal from about Fairfax (you can still see remnants of the right of way on Sunset at Gardner). You can see aerial shots of it historicaerials.com in hindsight they could have done better with the median but at least give them credit… Read more »
Thank you Tom, always appreciative of more facts.
Having the outdoor patio definitely makes the city urban, live, and vibrant, which I love! Although, are these restaurants paying the city for the additional square footage they have gotten? Also, I don’t appreciate it when the waiters and staff of the restaurant have the audacity to give you the side eye attitude if you’re in “their” way while walking the sidewalk.
“The Patio,” they’re trying to save at this location is a “WeHo Sidewalk!” Sounds like a malapropism or perhaps just a boo-boo. One can only imagine a door that swings into an area with busy pedestrian traffic, scooters, bikes, and delivery robots; with waiters scrambling
across to serve their customers. A patio you say?? I think not!
Has anyone even paid attention to the situation at Dialog Café? Not only have they encroached the sidewalk and removed parking, it is made a dangerous intersection even more so. Cars parked in the red zones, the patio area blocks the view of vehicles and pedestrians trying to cross Holloway at Palm. This really needs to be addressed. I’m not saying they shouldn’t have some space outside but this is ridiculous.
Sepi Shyne’s fave location for Sips with Sepi. A conscientious person, Mayor at that, would have seen and corrected this danger. Does she need lessons from Lauren Meister?
This really isn’t something that the mayor is responsible for but the city government as a whole. Problem at dialog café has been going on for about two years and Lauren was mayor during that time. I don’t blame her for the problem anymore than I blame Sepi, but it is something that needs to be addressed and solved before someone gets hurt. It’s amazing that hasn’t happened yet.
At the last city Council meeting, when they were discussing the out-zones agenda item, a gentleman got up and complained about Dialog Cafe during public comments. Both Elyse Eisenberg and I echoed his concern. Staff was asked to look into it. Whether the city will do anything to correct that dangerous corner though , is anyone’s guess.
Get rid of it. It’s an eye sore, and if the business can’t make it without it, then time to move on. Plus, it’s a sidewalk and street, not their patio.
Expansion to sidewalk seating and reduction of public parking spaces was a work around during the pandemic. In many cases, restaurants more than doubled their seating capacity. But those were temp measures. The public wants its sidewalks and parking spaces back. Walking traffic is already challenging. There’s still lots of empty restaurant space east of La Cienega.
It’s not “their patio”. It’s a sidewalk that the taxpayers own.
The owners should be grateful this sidewalk dining assisted them during the pandemic and also thankful for the positive press they received. Time to move on and find a spot more suited for their business or just move along. There are no lifetime guarantees for gift horses.
This OutZone is a safety hazard and needs to be removed. The City was correct to rescind the restaurant’s dining permit. (Photo via Wehoville.)
Sorry not sorry, it’s way past time for this to end. The restaurants and bars in Boystown are back to full capacity and raking in money, give the citizens back their sidewalks and streets.
I am very sorry, but I will not be signing that petition. Just look at how narrow that sidewalk is! They have left barely enough room for pedestrians to navigate it!. And now, since pedestrians have to share the sidewalk with scooters, E-bikes, regular bikes, and delivery robots, there’s simply is not enough room! Not only that, but if the doors open outward, and servers are crossing the sidewalk with food and drinks, that makes the situation even more hazardous! Pura Vita has good food, and thus has become very popular. I suggest that if they want more seating space,… Read more »