At a West Hollywood Business License Commission meeting on Tuesday, July 11, 2023, Doughbrik’s Pizza, located at 8363 Sunset Boulevard, pleaded their case for a second time before the Commission for an Extended Hour Business License to operate until 3:00 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays (the original application included Fridays, which was amended at last night’s meeting on Doughbrik’s request). The extended hour business license was approved with a 3-1 vote (Newly elected Chair, Elyse Eisenberg, voted no, and Commissioner Jordan Cockeram recused himself after speaking during public comment that he supported the extended hour before he was sworn in to the commission).
Commissioner Danny Hang made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Mark Yusupov, to approve the extended hour for Saturday and Sunday until 3am with the elimination of condition number three, which would open the outdoor patio to avoid loitering on the sidewalks, and adding an amendment to a six-month informational update that will be provided to the Commission by Staff. A security guard would also patrol the premises between 2am and 3am to address any loitering nuisance or noise issues in the parking area within the city limits.
The popular pizza restaurant owned by YouTube influencer David Dobrik and Lemonade founders Alan Jackson and Ian Olsen, made adjustments to get the extended hour twice a week. They fired the previous manager to address issues that came up at a May 2nd meeting before the Commission. They are working on a deal with the Andaz Hotel to offer additional parking for their customers at a discounted rate of $12. They have been actively cleaning the neighboring areas of any trash related to their business, and they also claimed to have conducted a community meeting and obtained sixteen signatures of support for their extended hours–a claim that was questioned by the commission, since they did not obtain proof of addresses by the signees and local community members wrote comments complaining they were not notified of the meeting.
A large portion of the meeting was a heated discussion between commissioner Yusupov and Staff on whether the Commission had the power to review, revoke or impose certain conditions to modify the license after six months of approval if the applicant did not adhere to the terms discussed and approved at the meeting, such as patrolling parking outside of the West Hollywood city limits.
“We’re not negotiating conditions of approval here before the commission tonight,” said Neighborhood and Business Safety Manager Vyto Adomaitis. “Staff has conducted a review of the application. We have conditioned the applications for you. We can make some amendments including the item regarding the patio, and the number of days that the applicant is now being requested to stay open. Those changes we can make. However, with regard to conditionally approving the application and waiting for the applicant to come back in six months, that’s not before the commission tonight. Staff, as I indicated earlier, and I’ll restate it… if the the Commission voted tonight to approve it, staff, for the next year, when that license comes back for renewal with staff… we would continue to review that application… for compliance. If we found that the license and the applicant were not in compliant, staff, not the commission, staff, would initiate a return of that application to be brought for the commission for either revocation, or suspension, or any other appropriate action before the commission. So staff would trigger that process, not the commission.”
The motion could have been locked with a 2-2 vote similar to the previous motion made on May 2nd, but Commissioner Eng voted yes this time—“somewhat reluctantly,” she said, so the motion passed.
Those who wish to appeal this determination can do so within 15 calendar days to the City Clerk’s office.
Don’t understand what the big deal is. It’s a pizza place that wants to be open later. It’s not a club or some other crazy establishment. Also, it might help people sober up by having them stay around an extra hour for some grub.
I’m a fan of Doughbrik’s here and I gotta tell you that this meeting was a disgusting display of just how un-friendly the City of West Hollywood is with the businesses community. Shame on that guy Yusuvop for not doing his homework and for wasting the public’s time by asking the same stupid question over and over again and for getting his overreaching hand smacked down with the same answer. The gross power trip of this commission needs to be checked. No, you do not have the “power” to revoke a license and to waste time, money & city resources… Read more »
I am one of the commissioners and I’m glad for this opportunity to make some facts known: During the hearing, staff reported that this location had 16- SIXTEEN- false alarms resulting in sheriff dispatch. There is a cost to the city for that. City Staff also recommended that the location Patio be shut down for the extended hr- which did not make sense to the commission. We, as residents, understood that this would increase the likelihood of people loitering in the neighborhood. City staff made that recommendation, rightfully, based on CODE – not necessarily on reason. These are 2 examples… Read more »
You actually responded. How about that? I mean no disrespect, but this is a very long defensive explanation for a power trip that undermines the staff. They must not know what they are doing. The man explained that you had to stick to what was before you and you did not want to listen. You want the power to revoke a license in six months and you’re still arguing the case that you should have the power to create more red tape after a motion passes. Nothing you say changes what we witnessed at that meeting which was a small… Read more »