On March 8, a judge granted a temporary restraining order that allowed Burbank officials to shut down the popular Tinhorn Flats, a western-themed restaurant that refused to abide by California’s draconian lockdown orders.
Business Insider reports – On July 1, Los Angeles County officials ordered restaurants to halt indoor dining. From November 25 to January 29, outdoor dining was prohibited too.
But the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health received dozens of complaints saying that Tinhorn Flats was still offering outdoor dining. An investigation found that it was still serving food and alcohol in its outdoor seating area and that diners were allowed to sit close to one another despite social-distancing rules.
The department ordered Tinhorn Flats to stop serving diners — but it didn’t.
In response, the department suspended Tinhorn Flats’ public-health permit and told the restaurant to discontinue all operations.
At each follow-up inspection, however, the department found that the restaurant continued to offer outdoor dining. This meant that in addition to violating the order prohibiting outdoor dining, Tinhorn Flats was operating on a suspended public-health permit. The department fully revoked the permit, but the restaurant continued serving customers onsite, the department said.
Tinhorn Flats operated “in flagrant violation” of the county’s orders, Burbank officials said in a report in late February.
“This is without question injurious to health and poses a serious risk to patrons, the neighborhood and community-at-large, therefore constituting a public nuisance,” the officials added.
Laist – In late November, when Los Angeles County temporarily banned outdoor dining at restaurants, Tinhorn Flats allegedly continued serving customers on its patio. The outdoor dining ban was lifted in late January.
In late January, the L.A. County Department of Public Health revoked the saloon’s health permit. A month later, the Burbank City Council revoked its conditional-use permit. Last week, the city of Burbank sued Tinhorn Flats. Each time, Tinhorn Flats remained open.
The city said the restaurant, located on Magnolia Boulevard, was an ongoing public nuisance and wanted permission to padlock Tinhorn Flats’ doors and shut off its electricity.
In a move that would make Communist leaders like Joseph Stalin proud, the city of Burbank cut off electricity to the Tinhorn restaurant.
According to the Business Insider – The city disconnected power to Tinhorn Flats’ property over the weekend with authorization from the Los Angeles Superior Court. City officials had also asked the court for permission to padlock the restaurants’ doors, but this was not granted.
The Tinhorn Flats restaurant proudly touted the fact that they were denying the California Governor Newsome’s draconian lockdown orders.
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The restaurant, which has stayed open despite having its permit revoked, said it would continue to serve customers using its own generator.
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An online fundraiser that the owners of Tinhorn Flats set up to cover their legal fees has raised more than $12,000.
Burbank authorities said the restaurant defied both state and county COVID-19 protocols during the pandemic. The complaints primarily related to offering outdoor dining when this was prohibited and to operating without a public-health permit.
Tinhorn Flats refused to comply with state and county safety orders
