CALIF. CONSIDERS EXTENDING LAST CALL TO 4 A.M.
Anyone who has spent a late night at a bar has heard the echoes of “last call,” the signal that the final drinks of the night are being served and that soon it will be time to head home.
In California, the warning typically comes just before 2 a.m., after which it is illegal to sell alcohol anywhere in the state. Now a proposal in the Legislature wants to change that.
Senate Bill 930 would allow seven cities in California to serve alcohol until 4 a.m. as part of a fiveyear pilot program beginning in 2025. The places included are San Francisco, Fresno, Oakland, Cathedral City, Palm Springs, Coachella and West Hollywood.
Nationwide, the most common last call is at 2 a.m., but bars in
New York City can serve until 4 a.m. and some in Chicago until 5 a.m. State Sen. Scott Wiener, who wrote California’s proposal, said extending the hours that businesses can offer alcohol would provide them an economic boost after an especially tough few years.
“Coming out of the pandemic, our nightlife venues are really hurting,” Wiener told me. “For some of these small businesses, this could be the difference between being viable and not being viable.”
The bill is scheduled for a hearing next week before the state Assembly Committee on Appropriations. To become law, it would need majority approval from the Senate and Assembly and the signature of Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Although similar bills in the state have failed in the past, Newsom, who owns a winery and hospitality company, is expected to be more sympathetic than his predecessor. In 2018, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed an earlier version of Wiener’s bill, which would have included Los Angeles and Sacramento and cited a potential increase in drunken driving.
“California’s laws regulating late-night drinking have been on the books since 1913,” Brown said in his veto statement. “I believe we have enough mischief from midnight to 2 without adding two more hours of mayhem.”
In West Hollywood, city officials have voted to take advantage of the delayed last-call times if the state approves the measure.
“Many of us have explored and exhausted our options for innovative ways to continue paying our employees and keep doors open,” David Cooley, owner of the Abbey, one of the city’s most popular bars, told The Los Angeles Times.