The Los Angeles City Council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee deferred to May 28 its consideration of the building once home to the Irish bar Tom Bergin’s.
The Miracle Mile Residential Association and the Los Angeles Conservancy are pushing for historic-cultural monument status for the Fairfax Avenue building, which housed Bergin’s until the restaurant and bar closed after St. Patrick’s Day 2018.
Ken Hixon, senior vice president of the MMRA, said the delay wasn’t announced until the beginning of the committee’s May 21 meeting, when the vote was originally scheduled.
“We’re utterly perplexed, and I’m embarrassed and angry,” Hixon said.
Councilman David Ryu, 4th District, who supports awarding landmark status to the Bergin’s building, said attorneys hired by Bergin’s owner Derek Schreck used a procedural issue to force a delay, and “out of an abundance of caution,” City Attorney Mike Feuer’s office requested a couple of days to study the issue.
Schreck did not return a call for comment, but Benjamin Reznik, an attorney with the firm Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell, which represents Schreck, submitted documents to the committee on the day of the hearing that indicate an organized resistance to the building being given landmark status. Reznik said signatures and letters have been collected from more than 100 people who do not want the building declared a landmark.
The City Council file on Bergin’s shows the last day to act is June 5, and Hixon said he’s worried this delay might be enough to derail his group’s quest for a historic-cultural monument designation.
“This is the sort of situation that leaves a very bad taste in people’s mouths and makes people cynical about government … you do what they tell you to do, then they pull the rug out from under you,” he said.
Ryu, however, said he’s confident the building will still be awarded historic-cultural monument status.
“I have no qualms this is going to move through,” Ryu said.
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Fairfax Avenue’s Tom Bergin’s closed a few months after the Transit Oriented Communities act was passed. What interesting timing! As it’s only 2 blocks from the future Wilshire & Fairfax station of Metro’s Purple Line, the potential is there for it to become a large development and make the owners a large financial gain. For years the owners were so incredibly passionate, outspoken and supportive of maintaining the historic pub for future generations. But now that they realize they’re potentially sitting on millions in profits suddenly it’s a loser business that no one can salvage. They’re not as concerned about getting their money back as much as selling for a huge profit! Trust me, if the people behind popular restaurants Republique or Petit Trois owned it, it would become an instant destination worthy crowded sensation. It would be such a shame to lose such a storied icon just because some novice restaurateurs overpaid and mismanaged a restaurant and pub they owned for a measly 6 of it’s 90 years of existence. It deserves better than that greed.