State Seeks to Revoke Bar License

The state is seeking to revoke the liquor license of a popular Hermosa Beach pub a year after a bartender, a regular patron and a part-time maintenance man were convicted of drug-related offenses committed on the premises.

Officials at the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Department confirmed Wednesday that they have recommended that an administrative law judge effectively shut down Besties Bar on Hermosa Avenue, a neighborhood watering hole and restaurant. A hearing on the matter had been scheduled for this week, but was continued until next month at the bar owners’ request.

Named for soccer star George Best, who bought the tavern in 1978, Besties became the subject of an ABC probe two years ago after the agency’s Drug Enforcement Narcotics Team was tipped to the suspected drug dealing on the premises via an anonymous letter, officials said.

A months-long undercover investigation culminated last April in the arrests of the bartender, Mark (Beandip) Winsborough of El Segundo; a part-time maintenance worker, Rogelio (Jesus) Gutierrez Reyes of Hermosa Beach, and a patron, Dan Lee Manning of Hermosa Beach. Reyes pleaded guilty to charges of selling cocaine. Manning and Winsborough pleaded guilty to several counts of transporting cocaine. All three are serving three-year sentences in state prison, said Los Angeles County district attorney spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons.

Phil Henry, superintendent of the Drug Enforcement Narcotics Team, said undercover investigators logged 10 transactions involving cocaine sales, not only in the bar’s parking lot and restrooms, but also directly across the bar.

Those charges, coupled with a 1989 violation for selling alcohol to a minor, prompted the ABC recommendation that Besties’ license be revoked, Henry said.

Any action ultimately taken against the bar will be decided after a hearing next month before an administrative law judge. However, in similar revocation requests made against other bars, the ABC’s recommendations have generally been upheld, he said.