Councilman fights for Westside club’s live-entertainment permit
Costa Mesa Councilman Gary Monahan has appealed the denial of a controversial Westside nightclub’s recent request to host live music.
Monahan wrote in his appeal, filed Monday, that he believes the Planning Commission’s June 8 decision to deny the club, Maison, a live-entertainment permit needs further review.
Monahan’s request will bring the matter back for City Council review in about six months. During that period, Monahan said, Maison, located at 719 W. 19th Street, will have a chance to correct past mistakes that made it locally infamous in recent months.
“We heard the planning commissioners’ and community’s concerns,” Lisa Salisbury, Maison’s attorney, said in a statement. “Over the next six months, we will prove to them that we are a good and quiet neighbor.”
Maison was fined $1,050 in March following a city inspection that discovered noncompliance with various building, fire and life safety codes. Despite the violations, the club had been hosting live music for the past several months, even as construction inside proceeded — much to the chagrin of residents living directly behind the club.
As a result, the 4,200-square-foot venue was red-tagged to the public.
City officials also realized that Maison’s owner, Roland Barrera, did not have a business license, construction permits and permission to have live music.
Prior to Barrera’s ownership, the club was the Lions Den, which, at one point, was allowed to have live music. Since Barrera took over, however, permission for live entertainment at Maison has lapsed, though the venue is allowed to have a DJ.
In his reasoning for filing the appeal, Monahan noted the club’s history.
“The venue has had live music in the past,” he said. “The difference between a DJ and live music, I believe, is nothing.”
In the next six months, Monahan said, “I am hopeful and somewhat confident that Maison will be good neighbors and not be a detractor to the neighborhood. I honestly think that [Barrera’s] business plan or venue plan, and the amount of money they’re spending, is a big improvement [over] what was there.”
That kind of investment, Monahan said, “tells me they’re serious about being an improvement to the Westside.”
