Writing Shotgun

LIVE BANDS COMING TO WRIGLEY’S PUKA BAR

Theo DouglasWed. December 05
 

Live bands are headed for the Puka Bar, the Wrigley area’s noted Tiki-style bar at 710 W. Willow St.–including jazz and lounge combos.

But they’ll arrive over the objections of a half-dozen nearby residents, who told Long Beach City Council Tuesday night that the bar is a difficult neighbor even when its visitors are well-behaved.

“The patrons of this bar constantly park on our street, and we find this disruptive,” said Tonette Kadrmas who, like several other people opposed to live Puka music, lives on nearby Maine Avenue.

“We believe that the issuance of the permit will result in disruptive and nuisance activity by patrons of the bar,” Kadrmas continued, before presenting the city clerk with a petition she said had 20 to 25 signatures of residents opposed to allowing live music return to the Puka Bar.

Several years ago, and under different owners, the Puka Bar was the K-B Club–which sometimes hosted live punk rock and quickly earned a black eye from neighbors faced with the usual problems: noisy late-night streets, public urination–and six-packs of empties on their lawns in the morning.

Puka Bar owner Larry Settle said he’s worked hard to solve the bar’s problems by making tipplers use the front door on Willow Street; by posting a security guard after 8 p.m.–and by keeping all drinks inside the bar.

“I’m not aware of these problems these people are telling us,” Settle told the council during his city-mandated three minutes of comments. “There’s not been a single call made to the police.”

Seventh District Councilwoman Tonia Reyes Uranga, who lives in the Wrigley area herself, said that since Settle opened the Puka Bar, police calls to the establishment–once averaging 90 per year–have dropped 90 percent.

“In the past couple years, it has transformed from a place that was–frankly, it was ugly. It smelled,” Reyes Uranga said. “I really hadn’t heard the complaints until this week.

“Don’t hesitate to call” my office, the councilwoman told Wrigley residents in council chambers. “You shouldn’t have to wait until there is an entertainment permit” being discussed.

After discussion–and sympathy from Third District Councilman Gary DeLong, whose district includes numerous bars on Second Street in Belmont Shore and Naples–the council unanimously approved an entertainment permit that will allow live bands at the Puka Bar as late as midnight Monday through Thursday, 1:30 a.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11 p.m. Sunday.

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