Last call
Bill would let San Francisco bars stay open until 4 a.m.

By Camille T. Taiara

Local efforts to revive San Francisco's age-old reputation as a mecca of pleasure and debauchery are finally making their way to the state capitol.

On April 19 – two months after the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution urging the California legislature to "modernize laws related to alcohol closing hours" – a committee of the state assembly will consider legislation that would allow San Francisco establishments to continue selling alcohol until 4 a.m. in areas of the city zoned for late-night operation.

Entertainment Commission president Terrance Alan, one of the main proponents of extending last call, told the Bay Guardian he hopes the legislation will "create a mini-renaissance" in the city's late-night culture.

"Entertainment in San Francisco has been battered, first by the police, then by the dot-com boom," said Alan, who also owns a strip club in the Tenderloin and founded and serves as chair of the San Francisco Late Night Coalition, a group representing nightclub owners.

Alan and other supporters of the measure argue, among other things, that a later last call could help revitalize the local economy and would bring San Francisco up to speed with other major cities. At least 20 U.S. cities have last-call hours that are later than 2 a.m. – including major urban centers like New York City and Chicago, but also cities that are smaller than San Francisco, such as Portland, Ore., and New Orleans.

But the legislation – A.B. 2433, sponsored by assemblymember Mark Leno – has several hurdles to clear before it becomes law. If it clears the 24-member Committee on Governmental Organization, it then goes to the Appropriations Committee, then to the full assembly. If it survives that process and a parallel one in the senate, then Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger must sign it. If approved, extended last-call hours will take effect Jan. 1, 2005.

"We have a fantastic grassroots organization supporting this measure, as well as strong business support," Nathan Purkiss, a legislative aide to Leno working on the campaign, told us via e-mail. Leno's office has received roughly 1,800 letters of support from individuals and the backing of 60 organizations. Only seven people and two organizations – a conservative religious group called Responsible Citizens Inc. and the California Peace Officers Association – have registered opposition.

Said Purkiss, "It has developed the feel of a populist movement."

E-mail Camille T. Taiara