Chop House Update

Here's an update to our post from Saturday:

Daily Bulletin reporter Wes Woods II covered the Forks Chop House closure in today's paper. The article said the restaurant was unable to reopen following a December 2008 kitchen fire because its insurance company apparently denied the restaurant's business interruption claim, which would have reimbursed the owners for the business they otherwise would have transacted.

The Forks' landlord, Jeved Management, apparently wasn't able to hold the restaurant's space during the lengthy period the owners were trying to settle their insurance claim. Woods' article said:

The restaurant didn't have enough money to reopen because its insurance company refused to pay business interruption fees, co-owner Mark Bollinger said.

Restaurant officials didn't provide information about how much money is owed to them.

"In the meantime, the landlord came to us and said `I can't wait for an insurance settlement,"' Bollinger said. "`I'll have to pull the plug and get someone else.' "

Jeved Management, incidentally, is owned by the Tessier family, which also owns Arteco Partners, the developer that restored the Fox Theatre in Pomona, as well as the Padua Hills Theatre, and the Claremont Packing House where Forks was located. Jeved filed a lawsuit against Forks in Pomona Superior Court last year, possibly in connection with a lease dispute. It appeared to have resolved fairly quickly, according to the court's information:

Case Number: KC056128
JEVED MANAGEMENT INC. VS MICHAEL A. BOLLINGER

Filing Date: 06/25/2009
Case Type: ED/Commercial (not Drugs/Evict) (General Jurisdiction)
Status: Dismissed - Other 09/14/2009

-----------------------------------------
Future Hearings
None

-----------------------------------------
Parties

BOLLINGER MICHAEL A. - Defendant
JEVED MANAGEMENT INC. - Plaintiff
TESSIER VICTOR G. ESQ. - Attorney for Plaintiff
THREE FORKS STEAK HOUSE - Deft's DBA

-----------------------------------------
Documents Filed (Filing dates listed in descending order)

09/14/2009 Ord of Disml with prejudice
Filed by Attorney for Plaintiff

09/02/2009 OSC-Failure to File Proof of Serv
Filed by Clerk

06/26/2009 Notice-Case Management Conference
Filed by Clerk

06/25/2009 Complaint Filed


-----------------------------------------
Proceedings Held
None

Today's Bulletin article makes it sound as if Bollinger's claim now includes the entire value of the business, not just the income loss they suffered. Bollinger was also quoted as saying that the Forks' owners have retained an unnamed Claremont law firm to represent them.

We suspect that, if a bad faith suit with any merits is in the works, the law firm the Forks retained could be Shernoff Bidart Echeverria, which in 1979 was responsible for a landmark case called Egan v. Mutual of Omaha that allowed consumers to sue their insurance companies for wrongfully denied claims and to be compensated for emotional distress and punitive damages in addition to the value of the underlying claim. (Translation: mucho mas dinero.)

Shernoff's website explains that Egan created the whole practice area of bad faith litigation. If we were in the Forks' shoes, we'd sure want that firm representing us. SBE is not just the best in the business; they invented the business.

On Tap Tonight: City Council

Yes, folks, it's time for another edition of the biweekly tragicomedy, The Claremont City Council. In tonight's episode: Behind Closed Doors - secret talk about our men in blue. More specifically, our costly men in blue.

As this is being written, the regular session has begun, and you can watch it all here.

Among the hot topics tonight are:

• New paratransit vehicles - four at a cost of $305,261.64 from the city's transit funds.
  
  
• Trash contracts - two, one for recyclable material processing and one for solid waste transfer.
  
  
• Funding for community-based organizations and for homeless programs.

The council is also considering a ban on smoking in outdoor public places in Claremont. We're not sure where this one came from.

Smoking used to have a friend in the film industry, but that's no longer the case. Bogart's Rick in Casablanca would have a hard time taking a drag in or out of his Café Américain nowadays. AMC's Mad Men gets away with a good deal of smoking, though it isn't necessarily romanticized, and Jim Jarmusch would have to retitle Cigarettes and Coffee. Come to think of it, if China Forbes comes to Claremont, she would need to think twice before launching into "Sympathique" (....Je veux seulement l'oublier/Et puis je fume.)

We haven't a clue as to how Wim Wenders would recast the Peter Falk's cigarette and coffee scene in Wings of Desire (Der Himmel über Berlin, 1987). For those of you don't know the film, Falk explains some of the life's pleasures to the unseen angel Damiel, played by Bruno Ganz:



(If the film seems familiar, it was made into the really awful Nicholas Cage-Meg Ryan vehicle City of Angels in 1998.)

UPDATE, 8:20PM: The council just rejected the outdoor smoking ban, thanks in no small part to the Tessier brothers, Ed and Jerry, whose Arteco Partners refurbished and rebuilt the Packing House and the Padua Hills Theatre. The Tessiers reminded the council that restaurants like Casablanca with its hookahs and Nancy Tessier's Hip Kitty rely on customers who like to step outside for a smoke. Ed Tessier also mentioned the fact that wedding goers at the Padua Theatre often step out onto the patio for a cigar (not in fire season, we hope).

Councilmember Yao seemed a bit perturbed at the Community Services Commission, which approved of the ban and forwarded the issue to the council. Yao was bothered that none of the commissioners consulted with the council before referring the matter to the council. Yao and councilmember Corey Calaycay were also bothered by what they felt was an attempt to legislate behavior.

Mayor Linda Elderkin and Mayor Pro Tem Sam Pedroza were torn between not wanting to appear anti-business and the risk of displeasing their left-leaning supporters, many of whom were in favor of the outdoor smoking ban. Pedroza seemed particularly uncomfortable, giving his long, tongue-tied Sammy explanation for his vote. Councilmember Larry Schroeder was the only one who seemed to be in favor of the proposed ordinance.

Communitarian and Fourth of July Committee member Ed Reece, by the way, spoke in favor of of the ban, saying he was a cancer survivor. Frankly, Reece being for anything is usually enough evidence for us to vote against it.

7-Eleven: Community Meeting Tonight

The issue of the proposed 7-Eleven in the empty building at the northeast corner of Mills Ave. and Foothill Blvd. is apparently still alive, even though Claremont's Planning Commission voted 6-1 to have city staff draft a denial of the 7-Eleven's conditional use permit application at their February 16 meeting.

We didn't see an announcement for the meeting on the City's website, but we did catch a letter in Saturday's Claremont Courier from resident Jennifer Jaffe--as well as a short article on p. 5-- saying that Claremont Community Development Director Tony Witt has scheduled a community meeting 7pm tonight in the City Council chambers at 225 Second St. in downtown Claremont.

According to Jaffe's letter, "the meeting is intended to provide dialogue between the applicant and the community." Jaffe comes out against the 7-Eleven, and she hopes that others will attend and speak out. Jaffe also said the matter comes back to the Planning Commission at their Tuesday, March 2 meeting. That meeting is at 7pm Tuesday in the council chambers.

You might recall that the planning commissioners expressed their concerns about the issues residents raised about the proposed convenience store. The Daily Bulletin's Wes Woods II reported some of the issues raised at that last Planning Commission meeting:

Lauri Harrison, a resident who lives on Clarion Place, said, "We don't need another place with access to alcohol."

Other residents discussed the possible crime and police issues such a business would cause.

"It seems to me we need to consider the fact the $12,000 to $21,000 in sales tax will be offset by law enforcement costs," Tess Henry told the commission.

The funny thing about the Planning Commission vote is that a different set of residents expressed exactly the same concerns about the City granting the Padua Hills Theatre operators, Chantrelles Catering and Arteco Partners, a conditional use permit to serve alcohol. In fact, the concern about proximity to residences was even greater there, since the Padua Theatre is completely surrounded by single-family homes, some within 100 feet of the theatre. The 7-Eleven site is at least situated on Foothill Blvd., a main, four-lane road, as opposed to the Padua Theatre, whose access is Padua Ave. and Via Padova, both small, curving, two-lane, residential streets.

It seems to us that the City is being awfully inconsistent here. Either they should grant the 7-Eleven their CUP, or they should revoke the one for the Padua Theatre. We don't particularly care one way or the other, but we do believe the City has a duty to act fairly and consistently towards all applicants and residents. The City's inconsistent stances on the 7-Eleven and the Padua Theatre demonstrate precisely how arbitrary Claremont's official processes operate.

Once again, the Official Claremont finds itself hoisted on its own petard.

Padua Theatre Misplaces Guest

The weekend crime wave seems to have moved north from Foothill Blvd.

We've heard from several readers that late Saturday night the fire department received a 911 dispatch to the newly reopened Padua Hills Theatre where a wedding reception was being held.

The 911 call came from a woman whose drunken son, apparently an adult, had wandered off from the theatre and disappeared. The fire department personnel must have had some trouble locating the missing man because a Pomona police helicopter had to be called in to flash its searchlight over the area. The police call went on for about 2-1/2 hours, from a little before midnight to 2:30am, with the helicopter flashing its light all over the area. From what we've heard, police made an arrest for public intoxication, but we don't know if that was the missing guy or one of the other reception guests.

You can probably expect more such incidents (and the attendant costs for police and fire) with the theatre usage ramping up greatly from past years now that the theatre's refurbished. You might even expect a fire or two from people chucking their smokes into the Wilderness Park brush from that new terrace as they admire the view.

This incident is certainly a change from what we might have guessed would happen. People had wondered about drunk drivers leaving the theatre at night and causing accidents or striking pedestrians in the residential areas surrounding the theatre. No one bothered to think about the need to protect the drunks from themselves!

Pomona Public Library Image

At least they can sleep it off quietly in the chamise and California buckwheat with no one to bother them other than the coyotes and the occasional mountain lion. And, too, it's good to have the City, Arteco Partners (the company operating the theatre), and Chantrelles (Arteco's catering company) on notice about all these potential liabilities their property presents - car and pedestrian accidents, increased fire danger, missing partygoers - though that last one might more properly fall under the heading "Natural Selection."

We're assuming, of course, that no harm really befell the missing gentleman. One would assume we'd have heard about it if he were still unaccounted for, unless the Claremont PD wanted things hushed up. This was, after all, just one day before Claremont Heritage's big soirée at the same location and only one week after the theatre's reopening.

Count on hearing (or not hearing) about more of the same in future years. That's just the inevitable and unfortunate downside to the Padua Theatre's location, situated as it is on a dark hillside surrounded by single-family homes.

Padua Theatre Open for Business

Chantrelles Catering Image

The Padua Theatre reopened last weekend after being closed all winter and spring for earthquake retrofitting and other renovations. The remodeling work is being done by Arteco Partners, the same company that completed similar adaptive reuse projects with the Pomona Fox and Claremont Packing house.

The Daily Bulletin's David Allen took a tour of the theatre last week and spoke with Jerry Tessier, one of Arteco's principals. Allen described the renovations in his column:

Tessier's Arteco Partners spent $4 million and five months doing seismic strengthening, adding fire sprinklers and alarms, replacing every inch of plumbing and wiring and bringing the buildings up to code, including handicap accessibility.

Vintage elements such as wall sconces and tables have been repaired and the original theater screen featuring a map of Mexico is in place - although Tessier couldn't find the right rope to pull to show it to me.

The theater interior is quaintly rustic, with poured-in-place concrete walls and an exposed-beam ceiling of hand-chiseled wood.

The interior can be configured for banquets or performances, and photo opportunities for weddings - fountains, benches, a gazebo - dot the complex.

Another addition is a broad terrace overlooking the Claremont Wilderness Park. It offers a breathtaking view of rolling hills and canyons.

Allen also wrote about the theatre's history with characteristic irreverence:

Padua used to be an artists' colony and the theater grew out of that tradition. For most of the theater's active life, a troupe called the Mexican Players, sponsored by Herman and Bess Garner, put on productions to introduce Southern Californians to Mexican dress, songs and culture.

Sounds a bit corny to our modern sensibilities, but in its heyday Padua was popular and surprisingly well known.

The Garners owned a good deal of the land around the theatre and sold off lots to people like Millard Sheets, Milford Zornes, Albert Stewart, Harrison Macintosh, and Betty Ford, area artists who all built homes and studios on the long hill where the theatre sits.

David Allen also informs us that Claremont Heritage has sold 250 tickets to a fundraiser tonight at the theatre, a fitting location for the local historical society whose offices are located in the Garner House in Claremont's Memorial Park.

Claremont Heritage and amateur historian Judy Wright have been the primary force behind the deal with Arteco, just as they were the main forces pushing the ill-conceived Claremont Trolley. Judy has written extensively about the theatre and the Garners, whom she has elevated to the highest pedestal within the Claremont founders pantheon.

Wright and company have made much of the painstaking care and attention to detail employed in the theatre's restoration, though as is Judy's wont, she's employed a good deal of revisionism. For instance, Herman Garner would almost certainly have disapproved of things like the 4,000 square foot terrace addition or the serving of alcohol. Garner was a strong supporter of the temperance movement - recall that Claremont itself was a dry town until the late 60's.

Claremont Heritage's nostalgia for the theatre's Mexican Players also ignores the fact that when Garner founded his artist community it had explicit written prohibitions against non-whites owning property. That's right, it was segregated (a little secret Judy would rather not discuss).

Sure, the Garners' temperance and the racial attitudes were products of their era (major league baseball was still segregated at that time), but one cannot pretend to be a historian without documenting all of the history, even the parts that make one uncomfortable.

That said, if you didn't shell out $89 for a ticket to tonight's Claremont Heritage Gala, David Allen says you have several upcoming opportunities to check out the refurbished theatre. The Claremont Chamber of Commerce will have their mixer July 8 and there will be an open house July 12 from 5pm to 8pm.

Padua Hills Theatre Update (or Creative Destruction)

Claremont City Manager Jeff Parker's weekly report includes a brief note about a meeting last week on the Padua Hills Theatre. According to Parker, the state's Department of Alcohol Beverage Control held the meeting for neighbors last Thursday, and about 70 people attended. Residents raised several concerns, Parker's report says:

ALCOHOL BEVERAGE CONTROL (ABC)

Approximately 70 people attended the Alcohol Beverage Control neighborhood meeting on April 30. It was a very lively meeting, with strong opinions and concerns expressed. Those in attendance raised concerns about noise from the use of the venue and parking lots, need for greater on-site security, enforcement of City and ABC regulations regarding the use of the Padua Hills Theatre, and days and hours of business operation (inside and outside). Most residents wanted the hours to stop at 9 p.m. weekdays and 11 p.m. weekends, with more conditions on security. The residents may form a smaller working group to discuss their concerns with Arteco and ABC further. Staff is actively monitoring this process and will advise the council as developments come to our attention.

The theatre has applied for an ABC liquor license, and the neighborhood meeting was apparently part of the the licensing process. Arteco Partners, the company renovating the theatre, is shooting for a June opening. That could be a tight schedule, considering the construction is still going on and the liquor license hasn't been secured yet.

This all raises one point that Arteco Partners' recent projects at the Claremont Packing House and the Fox Pomona did not face: the Padua Theatre is smack-dab in the middle of a residential neighborhood rather than mixed-use or commercial areas, and two sides are bounded by homes within about 100 feet of the parking lot with a third side adjacent to the Claremont Hills Wilderness Park.

There is no similar commercial venue in Claremont, and one senses that the City's and Claremont Heritage's desperation to restore the theatre at any cost could lead them to sacrifice the peace, quiet, and safety of the neighborhood and the Wilderness Park in the process.

Nothing new here. Claremont's always been about loving things to death.

Downtown Pomona Happenings

David Allen had a column in Wednesday's Daily Bulletin about the ongoing restoration at the Fox Theater. Allen took a tour of the restoration work and reported back, saying that the original Art Deco look is being lovingly resurrected, down to the carpets and chandeliers, the original color schemes, architectural flourishes, old murals, and even the exit signs. We love it that the old revolving neon sign at top the Fox's tower will actually turn again.

Allen likened the work to an archeological dig and gave some insight into the people behind the project:

Credit for the Fox's rescue goes to the band of brothers: developers Ed and Jerry Tessier and concert promoters Paul and Perry Tollett. They bought the Fox in 2007 and are spending more than $10 million to ready the theater for the 21st century, while keeping many 20th century details.

Preservationists watching the Fox's revival say they couldn't be happier. They're happy not only because of the theater's impending return but because of the amount of restoration.

At first, the Tessiers, who are handling the renovation, had planned to put off most of the historic touches for a later time, when they would be paid for by community fundraising events.

The Tessiers mostly concerned themselves with restoring the Fox to operation after three decades of disuse and misuse.

Instead, rather than doing 20 percent of the restoration as planned, the Tessiers ended up doing more like 80 percent, digging deeper to recreate the murals and most of the chandeliers ahead of schedule.

The Pomona Fox Theater is scheduled to have its first event, a fundraiser called Fox First Night, on April 18th. It's not cheap. Tickets for the event are $135 or $1,080 for a table of eight. You can get more info here on the Friends of the Pomona Fox Theater site.

The Fox Theater itself has a separate site with photo albums of the restoration work, along with historical photos of the theater. You can find the photos here.

The Tessiers, incidentally, have pretty strong Claremont connections. Their company Arteco Partners restored the Claremont Packing House and is in the process of doing the same for the Padua Hills Theatre. Ed Tessier is a Pomona alum, Jerry graduated from CMC, and Jerry's wife Nancy owns the Hip Kitty Jazz Club in the Packing House, one of the few new downtown businesses that seems to be doing well.

* * *

The blog for Claremont Colleges radio station, KSPC 88.7fm (who knew they had a blog?), has a post announcing a free hip-hop concert tonight in downtown Pomona's dA Center for the Arts. LA act Bambu is appearing, along with two from Pitzer: Pepe and Jerms.

The dA Center is located at 282 S. Main St. in Pomona. Doors open at 7pm, and the bands start at 9.

The KSPC blog says there's free transportation to the event for 5C students, but you have to reserve a seat in advance:

If you are a 5C student in need of transportation, The Sagecoach bus will leave from the intersection of 6th St. & College Way (between the Rains Center and Smith Campus Center) at 8:30 PM. Be prepared to leave when the show finishes, around 12 AM. To guarantee yourself a spot on The Sagecoach, please e-mail erica.tyron@pomona.edu ASAP.

Pomona Fox Theater News

The Pomona Fox Theater's 14-month-long restoration is approaching completion, the Daily Bulletin's Monica Rodriguez informed us earlier this month. Ed Tessier of Arteco Partners, the developer involved in the restoration, was interviewed for the article and explained what we can expect:

"We've created a multi-faceted venue," Tessier said.

Everyone from "two people to 2,200 people can find a good home for their special event," he said.

A ballroom, banquet facilities, a roof-top restaurant, a lounge, a place for a romantic dinner and other amenities are part of what visitors will find at the Fox.

The auditorium alone will accommodate groups of various sizes, Tessier said. As a banquet hall the auditorium will seat about 350; as a cinema 1,700; and as a concert venue 2,100.

The Bulletin has a photo gallery showing the restoration work in progress. You can also find out more information and can also donate to the Friends of the Fox Theater here.

Arteco Partners is also the company that restored the Claremont Packing House, and they are currently involved with the City of Claremont in the restoration of the Padua Hills Theatre.

Pomona Photo Blog

Ren, the blogger who also doubles as the photographer for Goddess of Pomona and the Pomona Historical Society, has closed his own blog and has a new one: Images of Pomona.

We've updated our local blog roll accordingly. Below is a sample of Ren's work showing the ongoing restoration of Pomona's Fox Theater by Arteco Partners, the same company that refurbished the Packing House in Claremont's Village West expansion. Arteco is also restoring the Padua Hills Theatre for the City of Claremont.

Photo Courtesy of Ren at Images of Pomona

Claremont, Arteco: Bad Neighbors?

The Claremont Planning Commission meets tonight at 7pm in the City Council Chambers in Claremont's City Hall.

Item number two on the agenda is the Arteco Partners proposal for the Padua Theatre. City staff is recommending that the commission adopt a resolution stating that Arteco's requested uses for the theatre are consistent with the Claremont Hills Specific Plan.

The staff report on the Arteco item by the city's senior planning incompetent Lisa Prasse (a holdover from the Glenn Southard administration) cites the sections of the Specific Plan that are supposed to support the resolution.

Naturally, as a reader informs us, Prasse's staff report is completely wrong in its arguments. There's been no active Padua Theatre in over 30 years. In the meantime, residential areas - approved by past Claremont City Councils and Planning Commissions - have surrounded the location. The theatre is currently used only on weekends for weddings.

Further, when the theatre was active, it was dry - no alcohol. Arteco, however, anticipates a possible restaurant and daily events with alcohol served. Historically, contrary to the staff report, the activity was far different from the ones being planned.

Similarly, there was no bed-and-breakfast business at the theatre. This is an entirely new activity, and one is now planned to be placed there. So, the argument that there was a historical use for a B & B also fails.

Given those factors, the reader says what is required here is an amendment to the Specific Plan. Prasse and the City are trying to cut corners in order to please the Claremonsters and Arteco. Not very neighborly, the reader says, and possible grounds for litigation.

* * *

Item number four on the Planning Commission's agenda is a discussion of mansionization. Here is staff report by the city's Director of Community Development, Tony Witt, or T. Witt, as he is known in some circles.

Claremont Planning Commission Meeting - 7pm
Claremont City Council Chambers
225 W. 2nd St.
Claremont

Looking for a Buyer?

Yesterday's Daily Bulletin had an article by Will Bigham that said Claremont had received five bids from groups that would like to occupy the Padua Theatre in the Padua Hills area of northeast Claremont.

The theater, which was built in 1928 by Herman Garner, was home to regular shows by a theatrical group called the Mexican Players. Shows at the theatre ended in 1974.

Now used for weddings and other events, the theater is owned by the city of Claremont. The site was placed on the National Registry of Historical Places in 1998. The building damaged in the 2003 Padua Fire and is need of some earthquake retrofitting.

According to the Bigham article, one of the bidders is Arteco Partners, the company that bought the College Heights Packing House from Claremont and redeveloped that building. Arteco is also involved in preservation and adaptive reuse development of old buildings in downtown Pomona, including the Fox Theatre.

Bigham reported that the Arteco proposal for the Padua Theatre includes purchasing the property - something Claremont Mayor Peter was open to:

One potential hitch to Arteco's bid may be its proposal to purchase the facility from the city, which in its request for proposals said it was seeking a tenant to lease the theater space, not to purchase it.

But Mayor Peter Yao and others involved in the process say a sale of the building may be a possibility - it just hasn't been thoroughly considered by the city.

"I think that's a possibility I would entertain," Yao said. "I think we had a very successful project with the Packing House, and I see the Padua (Hills) Theatre as having the same kind of issues and also the same kind of opportunity."

Jerry Tessier, president and owner of Arteco Partners, said an ownership model would allow his company to invest more money into the project.

Other bidders include a ceramics museum, a catering business, and a theatre company.

The city's Human Services Commission will consider proposals and make its recommendations to the City Council, which will then make the final decision early next year, the article noted.

Padua Theatre, circa 1934
Photo Courtesy of Pomona Public Library
and Online Archives of California