Opponents of Dume Room Closure Pour Out Their Concerns Council

• The 35-Year-Old Bar Is Described as Worthy of ‘Landmark’ Status in an Emotional Appeal Before Members of the Malibu City Council Who Indicate They Can Do Little

BY BILL KOENEKER

The impending closure of a longtime establishment, the Dume Room, has stirred a whirlwind of protests, petition signings, letters to the editor and a visit by some of its most ardent fans to the Malibu City Council chambers this week.

Habitués of the Point Dume bar came to express to the council many of their personal sentiments about the changing face of Malibu and how the closing of the last neighborhood tavern is symptomatic of changes that have escalated in the last several months.

“Save the Dume Room. It is bigger than saving a bar. It is a huge blow to the [social] classes of Malibu,” said Jeff Kantor, who ticked off a laundry list of the shuttered establishments in Malibu such as Pierview, Windsail, the lumber yard, the hardware store and other venues, some of which he said are still closed and remain idle.

Mario Vitale, the operator of the Dume Room for the last four years, added to the litany of stores used by locals that are no more. “The [Point Dume] pet store is going, Malibu Gymnastics is gone, the hardware store long gone. There are 15 or 20 permitted uses that are gone,” said Vitale, who said it wasn’t simply self-interest that was driving him because he can take his liquor license anywhere.

“It is more than a bar. Your kids go there. Dads bring them in for their first drink legally. It is a rite of passage. Brides have met husbands. Even John Wayne drank there,” he added.

Radio personality George Reyes said he has been a fan of the Dume Room since 1999 when he moved to the coastal enclave. “It changed my life. I met all kinds of people there from blue collar to millionaires,” he said. “Everyone needs a place to escape.”

Longtime Malibuite Dixie Moore said the local bar has been the place to go “if you are sad or if you are single. It is a wonderful place. There are old guys and ladies from the Point Dume Club who go there.” Moore vowed that if the shopping center is developed, she will boycott it. “I will not step on that development. We will not give you our local sales taxes if we don’t have a place to go to,” she said.

Tony, who gave no last name, said the tavern is one of the last places in Malibu that is not pretentious. “It doesn’t depend on what you have or don’t have. If you have the power to save it, you should. A lot of places in town where you go, you have to have a lot of money,” he added.

Realtor Donna Bohana said she could go anywhere in Malibu, but by the end of the evening always found herself back at the Dume Room. She said she has been a fan since her college days 20 years ago. “It has been a part of my life since Pepperdine. I work across the street. I go to Nobu. I take my clients to Moonshadows or Sunset, but at the end of the night I like to take them to the real Malibu and sing Frank Sinatra songs. You guys have to do something. It should be landmarked. I can go anywhere in Malibu but I choose the Dume Room,” she said.

Jennifer Kantor said she is a DJ and has played everywhere in Los Angeles but singles out the Dume Room. “It seems a lot of places are disappearing and there is a bunch of high-end shops where nobody seems to shop. We don’t want this to be another empty lot. I’ve played everywhere, but the Dume Room has my heart,” Kantor told council members.

A majority of the council members were sympathetic to the outpouring, but said they were impotent in the face of market factors shaping Malibu.

“Everything you have said about the Dume Room is true. My father used to walk to it,” said Councilmember Sharon Barovsky, who said she did not see how the city could interfere with private property rights. “I won’t shop there if they do this, but I don’t see how we can legally do anything,” added Barovsky.

“I agree it is a part of Malibu. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to stop it. I don’t know how to stop evictions or rent increases,” said Councilmember Andy Stern.

However, Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich took a different tack. “I think there is something we can do. There are ways to legally control or make Malibu unique,” said Conley Ulich, who said she has been touting a proposed formula retail store ban to stop chain stores from wanting to do business in Malibu.

“You are absolutely right. Our town will look exactly like everywhere else, because that is what corporate America wants. It may not be too late. I think there is something you can do,” she added.

Councilmember Jeff Jennings said he remembered having a birthday party at the Dume Room 25 years ago and currently gets reports about the status of the bar from others.

“Everything you said is correct. Everything you said is true,” he added, saying that the lack of commercial retail space is the factor driving up rents in Malibu. “It is Economics 101. This is what happens, if you constrain the supply of a product. It is happening all over the country,” he said.

Jennings noted the “right message,” is a boycott. “The person who has the power is the person who owns it. He is the guy you really need to target,” he said.

Mayor Ken Kearsley suggested fans might form a co-op, get 200 people each to contribute $1000 and with the $200,000 obtain a room or meeting place. “We have a marijuana co-op. You could have a co-op. With $200,000 you could have a nice place,” the mayor said.

Malibuites reeling from the number of store closings and changes rapidly taking place in the commercial sector of the local community, may be taken aback to learn two more stores are shuttering their doors this month.

Champagne, a French bakery and cafe located in the Malibu Colony Plaza, and Malibu Pet Supply in the Point Dume Plaza are closing up shop by the end of this month, according to both owners.

A spokesperson for Champagne said the rent increased 75 percent and the business could make no money. The franchise operation is trying to relocate in Malibu, but has not yet found a suitable location.

Foot traffic is not enough to make the operation profitable for any location in west Malibu and if a location is not found the operation will cease.

Malibu Pet Supply started having its 50 percent sale last week and its doors will close next week, according to a store employee.

When asked if the store would relocate, the reply was, “There is no place to relocate in Malibu.”