Booze You Can Use

We Just Might Get a 4 a.m. Last Call in California After All

Hallelujah. We’ve heard rumblings over the years, from State Senator Mark Leno and others, of a push to extend last call in California past 2 a.m., and it’s finally taken the shape of a senate bill. Leno introduced it this week, and the bill would “allow destination cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego to start local conversations about the possibility of expanding nightlife” by letting nightclubs, restaurants, and bars stay open until 4 a.m. Stores selling liquor would still be subject to the 2 a.m. cutoff, and the hope is that this will create a more staggered set of closing hours in denser areas of nightlife, so that partyers are not all hitting the sidewalks, and the road, at the same hour. Also, it will help lift the sense of provincialism felt by tourists to L.A. and S.F. who are used to partying later in New York, Miami, Chicago, and elsewhere. Under the proposed law, municipalities would have to apply to the ABC for the extended permits, and indicate the scope of the businesses that would be included. Leno’s office also adds that there’s a huge fiscal upside to this as well, with California being home to one in four top-grossing nightlife venues in the nation. [Chron, LA Weekly]

We Just Might Get a 4 a.m. Last Call in California After All