From Monument Street, the Bay Theater sign reads yab.
Cinepolis Restrictions in Thousand Oaks
On Monday, a worker on Swarthmore Avenue in front of Cinepolis told pedestrians that the Bay Theater will be ready to open on October 26.
Residents have written letters to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) to protest unlimited alcohol sales within the five-screen, 250-seat movie theater.
According to an email received October 12 from ABC spokesperson John Carr, “ABC’s Southern Division is currently reviewing the request for an (IOP) Interim Operating Permit (also known as a Temporary License), no final decision has been made.
“The Application Process does authorize ABC to issue an IOP during the application process while the permanent license application process continues. An Interim Operating Permit is not permanent,” Carr continued. “If protests against the permanent license are not withdrawn then an Administrative Hearing will be scheduled to allow for public testimony and evidence to be presented in a public setting.”
Circling the News received the alcohol conditional-use license specification that Cinepolis Luxury Cinemas operates under in Thousand Oaks, where it has an eight-screen theater.
The Thousand Oaks Police Department/Ventura County Sheriff’s Department had protested the unconditional issuance of the alcohol license there in 2014.
Of the eight auditoriums in the Cinepolis, alcohol is served in five. The license specified that “no person under the age of 21 shall be permitted in theaters 3, 4, 6, 7 and 8 at any time, with the exception of cleaning and maintenance staff.” Valid identification “must be shown upon entry and re-entry into the theater.”
Other key conditions included:
- Signs, measuring no less than 12 by 12 inches with lettering two inches in height that read “No Alcoholic Beverages Beyond This Point” had to be posted at all exits within theaters/auditoriums;
- Food had to be available and offered for purchase at all times;
- All sales and service of alcoholic beverages for consumption in general spectator seating areas had to be made only from concession stands, portable stands or bars, or fixed bars and could not be sold, served, or delivered to customers by individual ambulatory vendors;
- Points of sale of alcoholic beverages shall not be maintained in theater auditoriums;
- Sales and service of alcohol by servers in the theater shall be permitted under the following conditions:
- Only patrons occupying seats in the theater shall be permitted to order and be served alcohol beverages.
- Alcohol orders in these theaters must be personally made to the server and the order must be delivered by that same server.
- Servers may not supply unordered alcoholic beverages.
- No more than two alcoholic beverages shall be sold or served to a person during any transaction.
- Alcoholic beverages shall be served in containers which significantly differ in appearance from contains utilized for non-alcoholic beverages.
- When the theater is selling alcohol, an employee must enter and monitor the activity at least once every 30 minutes.
- Quarterly gross sales of alcohol shall not exceed the gross sales of food during the same period and records needed to be available to the ABC on demand.
This seems out of common practice in most theaters now. We attend a lot of movies, and various theaters, and have never noticed out of control alcohol drinkers. Most folks enjoy one drink while seated, watching a movie. For them, it enhances the movie experience. At the prices most theaters charge for alcoholic drinks, I don’t think many people would have more than one. If they intend to get drunk, they’d go elsewhere!