Long Beach city council unanimously voted to overturn a decision made by a hearing officer to allow the JP23 nightclub to conduct business in the city and ultimately denied the owner’s business application Tuesday night.
The decision is the final act in JP23’s saga in Long Beach, following almost four years of renovations, applications and appeals from the owner, which coincided with safety violations and issues of non-compliance from the nightclub.
The letter of denial, which was published on March 14 and upheld by the council Tuesday, stated that the “Applicant has consistently refused to abide by the rules and regulations of the City of Long Beach.”
During the two years that JP23 was in residence, there were eight criminal citations, two safety violations, four letters notifying the business of non-compliant activity and a cease-and-desist order. Commercial Services Manager Amanda Hall also cited resident complaints over music disturbances, fights, drunk people in public, parking and other instances which resulted in over 30 calls to the Long Beach Police Department.
On May 25, a hearing officer presided over the case for five days and ultimately decided in favor of JP23 owner Jacob Poozhikala. The hearing officer’s closing statement acknowledged “the numerous past violations and citations,” and stated “the plain language of Long Beach Municipal Code 3.80.421.5 simply does not contemplate those past violations and citations be considered in the denial or approval of the Application.”
The city council hired an outside independent legal council to preside over the city staff’s decision before giving their final say. Christopher Pisano of Best Best & Krieger advised the council to go against the hearing officer’s decision and uphold the denial of JP23’s business license.
“What he [the hearing officer] was in essence saying was that the history of violations must be ignored,” Pisano said. “It struck me as odd and we looked very carefully at your code.”
Owner Jacob Poozhikala was present to plead his case to the council and argue that “the city went out of its way” in order to block his business from being successful.
“I put $3 million into this place … and a lynch mob was created to make sure that I don’t open this business,” Poozhikala said. “No one could tell me why I couldn’t get a business license; I need transparency.”
Employees from the Long Beach and Fullerton locations took to public comment to vouch for Poozhikala’s character. Concerned residents, mostly women, pointed to Poozhikala suing a woman for slander and libel who alleged she was drugged at the Fullerton establishment and later sexually assaulted.
A timeline of JP23’s time in Long Beach
Poozhikala applied for a premise-to-premise, person-to-person transfer of an Alcoholic Beverage License in January of 2018 to open a nightclub in downtown Long Beach at 110 E Broadway. He said he wanted the venue to be “a smaller House of Blues,” and quickly invested over $1 million into renovating the space in the first two years.
In August of 2021, a woman claimed that she was sexually assaulted at the downtown Fullerton location. It was not the first time JP23 had been connected to an incedent of sexual assault, and Poozhikala insisted that it’s what ultimately led to his business license denial in Long Beach.
On Sept. 1, 2021, the city began receiving complaints from residents that JP23 was advertising to host a grand opening party on Sept. 3 and 4. At the time, JP23 had not yet submitted a complete business license application and the location was still undergoing construction. Hall called the situation “highly unusual” and said that multiple departments reached out to Poozhikala.
Poozhikala said that he was advertising for the event in hopes that the license would be approved by then. Once he realized this wasn’t possible, he said he canceled the event and “took the $60,000 cost” of entertainment fees he had already paid. City staff confirmed that JP23’s social media accounts advertised a change in venue to the Fullerton location.
On Sept. 3, the Long Beach Fire Department and the LBPD responded to a call at JP23 “just before 4 a.m.” for a false fire alarm, according to Hall. City staff claim that the grand opening event was held regardless of warnings to the business.
On Sept. 16, Poozhikala submitted a completed business license application to the City. The next day, the club received a cease-and-desist order for all public use and two violations for occupancy without approval. JP23 responded by submitting a temporary occupancy permit on Sept. 24, which they were granted on Oct. 11.
From October 2021 to February 2022, there were eight misdemeanor citations, two letters from the city and two virtual meetings held with Poozhikala going over “process and entertainment permit regulations.”
A meeting in November granted JP23 a conditional business license, which Hall said was “an act of good faith to help this business become a member of the community.”
Long Beach Municipal Code 3.80.421.1 states that during the 180-day period for which a conditional license is active, “the applicant may be rejected for failure to comply with applicable laws and regulations at any time.”
Poozhikala’s council claimed that the conditional license was outside the bounds of the City’s director of financial management, which he argued was to “perform the ministerial function of issuing the license.”
He argued that since JP23 had received approval from the departments of planning, building, fire and health, the financial manager had no reason to withhold approval. He cited Long Beach Municipal Code 3.80.110, which states that the financial manager’s role “is not intended to be regulatory.”
The city denied JP23’s business license application on March 14, and received an appeal from Poozhikala on March 23. Between the time of the appeal and the hearing, the City conducted an inspection of JP23 and found an unpermitted mezzanine and stage area, which they were advised to stop using.
In April, the council referred to a hearing officer, who gave his final decision on July 15 to grant the business its license. Pisano’s independent report found that the city should reject the hearing officer’s findings.
Poozhikala asked the council to give him a probationary period to conduct business in Long Beach in order to “prove what a great place we are for the city.”
“You guys are here for the working class people, you know how stressful it is that I have 80 people that don’t know if they have a job or not,” Poozhikala said.
The council voted unanimously to deny JP23’s application.
This article was updated on August 24 to clarify the reason residents were protesting JP23’s business license application.
