Residents Fight Restaurant’s Bid to Sell Hard Liquor

VENTURA — A group of Mussel Shoals residents is objecting to a plan by the Cliff House Inn to seek a license to sell hard liquor, saying sales of spirits would increase the number of accidents at an already dangerous intersection on California 101.

The intersection, along a scenic stretch of the highway a few miles north of Ventura, has been the site of seven collisions since 1998, two of which were alcohol- or drug-related, according to the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

From 1994 to 1998, four people were killed and more than 120 injured on the three miles of freeway connecting Mussel Shoals and La Conchita in western Ventura County. Official statistics for 1999 are not yet available.

The intersection across from the Cliff House is already tricky. Northbound drivers leaving the inn’s parking lot must cross freeway traffic, which travels at least 65 mph in both directions.

“People, when they drink hard liquor, tend to get drunk faster and get more drunk,” said Mussel Shoals resident Dusty Farber, outside a hearing Wednesday in Ventura at which residents aired their complaints to an administrative law judge. “Trying to get through that intersection under normal circumstances is risky at best. Under the influence of alcohol, the risk is even greater.”

Sanford Porter, who co-owns and manages the Cliff House, applied for the upgraded liquor license in October but met protests from several of the inn’s neighbors.

The administrative law judge is expected to render a preliminary decision within 45 days; a final ruling will be made by the director of the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, said interim Director Manuel Espinoza.

The department’s Southern California office recommended approval of the upgraded license.