No Dancing Yet at The Abbey

Customers at  will have to wait to dance after the decision whether to change the iconic bar's conditional use permit from a restaurant to a nightclub was tabled by the Planning Commission on Thursday.

Many considered approval of the application a slam dunk, an easy vote that would allow the bar, which is known worldwide and has been named “the best gay bar in the world,” to permit dancing. In fact, The Abbey has already constructed a 265-square-foot dance floor and was awaiting only this final vote before opening it to patrons.

“I have supported the community and my customers for nearly 20 years,” The Abbey founder David Cooley said in a statement released two hours after the meeting. “It is disheartening how the city Planning Commission chose to treat The Abbey tonight.”

Incomplete staff report

Although Cooley blamed the commission for not doing its research, an incomplete report from City Hall staffers contributed significantly to the seven-member panel's decision to postpone the vote until its June 16 meeting.

City Hall staffers were recommending that the commissioners approve the change of the conditional use permit (CUP) to a nightclub. However, when the commissioners began asking basic questions, staffers could not answer them.

The commissioners wanted to know what The Abbey’s current occupancy rate was and how that occupancy would change with the new CUP, where the extra parking required under the change in CUP would be located, what the crime statistics for The Abbey were, and if they had received enough input from residents living nearby. City Hall staffers did not have the answers at Thursday's meeting.

Commissioners gently chastised the planning staffers, noting that the items are supposed to be standard in the reports they receive from them to prepare for meetings. They also wondered why representatives from code compliance and the sheriff’s station were not on hand to testify.

Former City Councilman Steve Martin was not so gentle in his criticism. Speaking during public comment time at the end of the three-and-a-half-hour meeting, Martin called the staffers' presentation “sloppy,” something many audience members had been saying among themselves throughout the meeting.

Martin sharply criticized City Hall staffers for being unprepared, wasting time and “costing the applicant money.” “The taxpayers deserve better,” he said.

Future uses

The planning commissioners also questioned Cooley about how changing the CUP to allow a nightclub would affect The Abbey. Cooley said the CUP application was merely about dancing, and that he did not intend to change anything else about his bar.

“I’ve had a good recipe going on for 21 years and I’m not going to change it,” Cooley told them.

Although commissioners indicated that they believed Cooley was sincere, they said they had reservations about what potential future owners of the property might do if it was approved as a nightclub, noting “the use follows the land.”

At this point, the commission called a vote to completely deny the application, but it failed 3-4. Then, a frustrated Cooley walked out of the meeting.

Cooley told Weho Patch moments later: “They as commissioners are not current with what the city is trying to do with their new parking structure, encouraging parking at the new city lots. They’re not concerned about jobs, they’re not concerned about tax revenue, they’re not concerned about the gay community, they’re not concerned about the public image of West Hollywood. They’re just inexperienced, unknowledgeable commissioners.”

Bar Varsity

After The Abbey vote, the commission heard a presentation about demolishing the building on the southeast corner of Robertson and Santa Monica boulevards, two doors up from The Abbey.

That building has seen many restaurants/bars come and go over the years, the most recent being the Java Detour coffee shop. The proposal considered Thursday is to build a 5,212 square foot upscale bar/nightclub called Bar Varsity.

Bar Varsity representatives presented drawings and a scale model of a Frank Gehry-esque building made of concrete with curving walls and roof.

Commissioners complimented the drawings, noting the building had the potential to be an architectural landmark. “It will either be spectacular or a disaster,” Commissioner Marc Yeber said. 

Commissioners wanted more details about the architecture, including samples of the texture of the concrete and the inside wall coverings, which are standard in presentations to the Planning Commission. Bar Varsity representatives did not have them.  

Commissioner Alan Bernstein said the showing was “insufficient for presentation.” When Bar Varsity developers said they were still in the schematic stage, awaiting input from the commission before proceeding, Commissioner John Altschul told them, “We’re not here to shepherd you through the process. We’re here for final review.”

Altschul said that the input the developers were seeking would come from City Hall staffers and the Planning Commission’s Design Review subcommittee. The commission voted to delay the vote on Bar Varsity’s application until June 16 as well.

Smoking ban comes into play

Bar Varsity plans to serve food from 6 a.m. until 2 a.m. Newly sworn-in Commissioner Lauren Meister questioned why the developers were seeking a nightclub permit when everything the panel was being presented with was for an upscale restaurant.

“Is it the smoking [ban] that’s driving this?” Meister asked. The city’s controversial new outdoor smoking ban, scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1, would permit smoking on patios at nightclubs, but not at restaurants.

Bar Varsity owners denied that that was their motive, saying the nightclub permit would allow them greater flexibility for having entertainment.

The same question about smoking had been asked by Altschul during The Abbey’s presentation. Cooley told the commissioners that smoking had nothing to do with his CUP application, that it was simply about the dancing.

In his comments at the end of the meeting, Bernstein said both applicants came before the commission because of the smoking ordinance.  

Bernstein, a parent of three young children, said he was concerned about the effect these nightclub CUPS would have on children in the city. Bernstein noted that families often go to West Hollywood Park to play during the day, then go to The Abbey to eat afterward. He pointed out that children would be blocked from entering The Abbey if the nightclub CUP were granted.

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