Trouble brews at Sunset Junction

Three hours before the 28th annual Sunset Junction street fair in Silver Lake was set to kick off this morning, tensions between area business owners and festival organizers from the Sunset Junction Neighborhood Alliance rose to a bitter crescendo.  Insults flew as business owners absorbed the news, broken this morning by the SJNA, that alcohol will not be allowed along the stretch of Sunset Boulevard between Sanborn and Edgecliffe, where the bulk of Sunset Junction's businesses stand.

For the dozens of businesses lining those three blocks, this was the final blow in a yearlong dispute about the boundaries of the festival, which until last year had always extended from Fountain to Edgecliffe. Last year the SJNA put a pay gate at Sanborn and detoured the festival south down Santa Monica Boulevard, using the area in front of the Sunset Boulevard businesses as a vendor parking lot.

"We all lost money last year," said Sarah Dale, owner of Pull My Daisy Boutique, who with the aid of her neighbors has been lobbying the SJNA and Councilman Eric Garcetti's office to make sure that the same exclusion wasn't repeated this year.

On Aug. 15, the City Council passed a motion mandating that the official gate at the east end of the festival had to be erected at Edgecliffe and not Sanborn. But up until this morning, businesses and Mitch O'Farrell, the district director of constituent services for Garcetti's office, were not sure if the SJNA would comply.

O'Farrell called for a meeting between business owners and the SJNA at the corner of Sunset and Sanborn at 8 a.m. More than a dozen people showed up, including SJNA board member John Brown, who brought with him the beer-and-wine license the festival was granted Aug. 22 by the California Department of  Alcoholic Beverage Control , which included a map indicating that no beer was allowed east of Sanborn.

Also apparent at that hour was the glaring lack of booths, activities or trash cans in front of the businesses, with a completely empty street leading from the gate at Edgecliffe to Sanborn--where suddenly booths, port-o-potties and a stage cropped up en masse. Brown said there would be security at Sanborn to make sure alcohol did not cross the boundary.

"This is a gate without a gate, and it's not what we agreed on," said Dale, while another woman yelled, "That's just mean-spirited!"

"This is because of [corporate beer sponsor] Heineken," another said. "They don't want competition from us."

"Where does all the money go?" someone else yelled. (The fair has a $20 entrance fee this year.)

A chorus of dissent rose, faces turned red, language got surly and O'Farrell had to step between the SJNA representatives and a few business owners to ask for calm. "Let's all lower our voices," he said. Finally, Brown said that he would ask the state ABC to allow beer east of Sanborn, but at that point no one was appeased.

Later, Brown said that he believed the ABC would say no to allowing beer past Sanborn. "People lose track of things, they have a sense of entitlement," he said. "We're a non-profit organization, this is our major fundraiser, we can put the parameters of our event wherever we want them to be; for the flow of foot traffic and for safety reasons."

Meanwhile, just down the street, a small blimp emblazoned with the words "Good Microbrew & Grill" soared into the sky above the lonely stretch of Sunset, and music blared from stacks of speakers in the Good parking lot. Ron Martinez, the owner of Good, was getting ready to make his own party. Dale walked by with a friend and a huge grin spread across her face.

"Oh my god, Ron has a blimp," she said. "Oh now, that's the way to do it. Way to go Ron!"

--Jessica Gelt

Comments

[Wes Boudville]

Well, SJNA says they are non-profit. But there has been little accounting of their funds in the past. Including, most importantly, the securing and counting of the cash that they take in as entry fees [which used to be donations in earlier years].

For the first 15 years of the festival, entry was with a voluntary donation, and the businesses along Sunset Junction got on well with the festival.

[The Shark]

The festival used to be really cool. As soon as the Pay Gates went up, the festival went downhill. Why tinker with something that worked in the past? I used to go every year in the 90's, since 2000, rarely.

[LAjimm]

20.00? That's ridiculous. Glad I read this article. Not gonna go there now.

[Lysette]

I am not going to waste my time with that festival this year. And a $20 entry fee is just plain greedy and ridiculous. It's a street fair! Geez. I will not support just based on that, but the way the merchants are being disrespected is the final straw.

[Larry]

When is SOME newspaper going to dispense with the happy-news take on this event and actually do some serious reporting on the organizers? "We're a non-profit organization, this is our major fundraiser." Oh yeah? Where does the money go? About 5 years ago, as the head of an *actual* small community non-profit, I was discussing with the organizers the details of getting a booth that year. Even then, stories were circulating about how the admission prices were rising, how this event was basically run by one man, and there were lots of questions about his accountability. So--as someone about to spend non-profit money--I asked about seeing some financial statements for the event I was spending it on. You should have heard how quickly the tone changed. "Why would you want to see that? Who are you? What was your name again?" They made it clear that such information would not be made available, and nearly hung up on me. We got our booth, but I'd never do it again. Here's an event that used to be free, then charged just a few dollars to get in (which was even then clearly a voluntary donation.) Now, the admission is skyrocketing--it's quadrupled in recent memory--and is for all intents and purposes mandatory. And still there's no clear accountability regarding the finances. That's all well and good if this event were put on by a promoter who fully paid for all provided city services and made no claims about being non-profit. But the city waives fees, and the festival is billed as a "community event benefiting the community." Hm. Seems that the guy who benefits the most is the guy who puts it on.

[Aaron]

Wow, $20 now? I'm glad I didn't go.

[Hugo]

I used to go. It used to be $10, and for the quality of the music, it was still a steal..such a nice family friendly atmosphere on a beautiful SoCal afternoon. Then they started getting more aggressive with the "suggested" donation, and since 2004, I have not bothered. It is too much of a hassle (parking), not enough shade, too much of a pat down,and now you want to charge $20 for what? The Cold War Kids? Come on now. I'm avoiding the area totally.

[gabriel white]

forget sunset junction festival. For a really great true community festival try the eagle rock music festival later on in the year. Great music, no problem parking good vibe. Music all over the place in parking lots, gas stations, street corners. It's less well known but I hope they learn from the mistakes of sunset junction. They should all look to other cities to find out how to organise a real festival. LA deserves a great street festival like Notting Hill carnival in London. If they can organise up to 1 million people in small area of narrow London streets for 2 days a year with relatively little incident they should be able to organise something small like Sunset junction

[Lauren]

It seems that a festival that was created to unite the neighborhood had been ruined by greed. What a tired, sad old story...

[Des Madre]

Granted, the festival organizer is no Angel and I'm no fan of his, but apparently some local SJ businesses can be just as greedy and narrow minded.
In the past the businesses have complained that the festival set up festival booths in front of their stores, obscuring their visibility to festival foot traffic. Now they're complaining that the festival booths have not been placed in front of their stores(?). Historically, everyone who lives and works in direct proximity to the Fair has recognized that for two days out the year, the festival will take place and we make the adjustments and considerations in our lives accordingly. Anyone who banks on SJ weekend to be a cash cow (other than the Fair organizer) have only themselves to blame for all their dashed expectations. The owner of GOOD applied for an outdoor liquor license just for this occasion hoping to capitalize on his location within the fair. I think that the sense of entitlement goes in all directions here. The loss of community spirit was a foregone conclusion here years ago. It would be naive to blame it all on the SJ Festival. I for one, know very well that the fair is primarily self-serving. I live in proximity to the fair but I never expect anything more than what I get from it. And when the festival becomes to burdensome, I just go away for that weekend.

[carrie]

Could it be that the greed has increased since the Spaceland people took over?

[Max]

Let's face it, the Sunset Junction street fair is a joke. Sunset Junction is at Sanborn, not Edgecliffe. All businesses should be able to benefit from the fair, not just those within the "gates".

This fair should not be about money for SJNA, it should be about bringing people to Silver Lake. Bringing attention to all the businesses along Sunset Blvd. If this function now pits businesses within the "gates" against those outside of the "gates" then it becomes a monopolistic cartel.

[Des Madre]

On the issue of restricted alcohol consumption within the fair,
In past years, the local businesses had complained that fairgoers walking the fair route with drinks in hand were usually too drunk to actually go in and shop at their stores. Now, they are complaining that drinking fairgoers are being restricted to drink in alcohol zones only.
My suggestion to the SJ shop ownersis: Don't depend on the SJ Street Fair to make or break your business.

[craig]

When I moved to Silver Lake in '82, Sunset Junction was an amazing moment when you might actually believe the multi-culti dream could work. Young Teen kids were strutting about in "security monitor" T-shirts, Mexican mommas and their kids watched the punk rockers and leather daddies enjoyed ethnic performances, while the chacha queens and gangbangers all bumped in the disco hut. The only real problem was the presence of Daryl Gates' storm trooper LAPD sweeps, but no one paid them any mind because everyone was having so much fun!

For months after, there were noticeably fewer problems in the 'hood -- no broken-into cars etc. And it was all free! Now the strange spectacle of empty streets and thuggy security guards. And $$20 for what's supposed to be a neighborhood togetherness event?

Aside from the suspicious and defensive nature of the promoter's response to any request for accountability, the big issue remains: why can they charge at all? I'd been under the impression that because this is held on a public street, it's supposed to be open for all and any ticket prices are to be donation only.

Time to break this thing open and get the real story --- or call it off.