Bar’s alcohol license revoked

MONTROSE — The Mix Bar in Montrose, long a source of anger for nearby residents, has closed after a state agency revoked its license to sell alcohol to patrons last week, officials said.

The California Department of Alcohol Beverage Control suspended the bar’s alcohol license Feb. 26 because the state Board of Equalization put a hold on the business Thursday for back taxes.

The Board of Equalization places holds on alcoholic beverage licenses if the business owner hasn’t paid taxes for more than three months, according to the agency.

The board wouldn’t comment on the Mix’s license suspension.

The length of the suspension will depend on whether the board can settle its issues with the Mix’s operators, said John Carr, a spokesman for the state California Department of Alcohol Beverage Control.

While the bar’s license was suspended, Carr said the business doesn’t have to close.

Calls to the bar were not returned this week.

Since the bar’s license was suspended, the city’s Neighborhood Services division has conducted random checks and hasn’t seen the bar open for business, supervisor John Brownell said.

The bar has had problems with its alcohol license in the past, Carr said.

The first suspension was issued for Dec. 12 to Dec. 22 for leaving its doors open when playing music, not having enough security in its parking lot and giving away alcohol, he said.

Police have logged 112 calls for service at the bar since March 2009, Glendale Police Sgt. Scott Johnstone said.

Bars in the same neighborhood log have had far fewer police visits, ranging from no calls to 15 during the same period, he said.

Last year, Glendale police detectives arrested people in the bar’s parking lot on various charges, including: suspicion of possessing cocaine, domestic violence, being drunk in public, urinating in public and possessing marijuana, Johnstone said.

A 25-year-old Sunland man last year was stabbed twice in the upper torso during an argument outside the bar. The injuries were not life-threatening.

Another patron lost use of an eye after a large fight in the parking lot, Johnstone said.

Due to the bar’s high volume of incidents, police will likely reject its request to renew permits for billiards, live entertainment and dancing, Johnstone said.

“If they can’t have normal operational use of their permits, it wouldn’t be right for us to give them permission,” he said.

Neighborhood Services will also be sending out a letter to the bar’s operators stating that they have violated terms of their conditional-use permit for alcohol sale, Brownell said.