Patrons at Spoontonic Lounge will keep being cut off at midnight, after Walnut Creek city officials unanimously denied the bar owners’ appeal of shortened hours that were handed down two months ago amid drunken, rowdy behavior and other problems around the property.
Now, Spoontonic’s management, staff members and longtime patrons claim the change has slashed revenues so dramatically that the bar’s survival is on the line.
Advocates of the watering hole at 2580 N. Main St. gathered at Tuesday’s Walnut Creek City Council meeting, pleading with elected officials to reverse — or even just delay — the decision to end alcohol sales two hours earlier than before, which the city’s Planning Commission first approved in August.
But the elected officials declined to re-modify the Conditional Use Permit for the establishment, after the city’s legal team and local authorities argued that the previous change was necessary to help mitigate ongoing calls for police service, including issues with public intoxication, possession of firearms, assaults and drug sales — behavior they said violated citywide standards required to stay open late.
Jaz Walia, Spoontonic’s manager who has handled day-to-day operations since 2009, said there hasn’t been enough time to see the fruits of the improvements he’s made in recent months to counter the problems.
In addition to introducing cover charges, increasing some liquor prices, changing the music, installing a metal detector and hiring additional security guards to monitor both inside and outside the venue, he said he’s working to transform the bar’s atmosphere into a speakeasy by adding new specialty cocktails, more TVs and pool tables.
“I’m really nervous trying to fight for my livelihood right now,” Walia said, pleading for the council to consider a less restrictive alternative than the midnight closure.
While closing two hours earlier than usual may not seem like a massive difference, Spoontonic’s staff estimated that at least 60% of their sales were historically generated between 11 p.m. and its previous 2 a.m. closure.
Walia’s attorney, Michael Biggs, agreed that ownership needs to do more to address the problems at the bar, but he said the business is now “carrying the cross of criminals” and may be “mortally wounded” by the shortened hours of operation.
But Walnut Creek’s public officials pushed back, arguing that the owners should have started implementing significant changes when police first reached out about issues a year ago, if not dating back to a July 2021 shooting that killed a 25-year-old man and injured three others outside the venue on SOS Drive.
Additionally, they said the problems at Spoontonic far outweigh its size, especially compared to similar but much larger establishments in town.
Between March 2021 and October 2023, Police Lt. Bruce Jower said the department tallied 69 responses to Retro Junkie, an ’80s-themed bar closer to the city’s downtown, and only six incidents at Massés Sports Bar & Grill. In those same 31 months, WCPD received 41 calls for service at Spoontonic — including 38 events that occurred after 11 p.m.
Despite claims that Spoontonic had beefed up security before its hours were cut in the summer, Jower said police found patrons passed out in the parking lot just days before the bar’s hours of operation were slashed.
City Councilmember Matt Francois said on Tuesday that while he understands that the business’ viability is on the line, Spoontonic could reapply for extended hours once all of the promised changes have been made — seizing the opportunity to create a better track record that doesn’t require as many police resources.
“You’ve already been given a couple of lifelines already, and there haven’t been any measurable steps taken to change the nature of the establishment,” Francois said. “It’s gotten to that point where the system is broken, and we need to take a significant stand.”
Some crime statistics near Spoontonic have already trended downward in recent years, but many councilors were still gravely concerned that management had not yet written a solid business plan for the bar’s new vision or attended any monthly community meetings hosted by local bar owners — despite specific direction from city officials to do so.
Spoontonic Lounge is not the only establishment that has had its business operations modified by elected officials in the past decade.
After a troubled history dating back to at least 2014, Crogan’s Sports Bar & Grill was forced to stop serving alcohol after midnight, due to years of history that included hundreds of police calls and suspended liquor license. Within weeks of that change, the Irish pub announced it would serve its final last call in January 2017.
Before the council’s vote on Tuesday, Mayor Cindy Silva boiled the council’s decision down to a lack of tangible solution to cure behavior at the business that has remained unacceptable for months on end.
“Deemed approval is not a right, it is a privilege,” Silva said. “It is your job to reach out and find out how to fix the problem. It is not our job to help to fix it for you.”