Beverly Hills Restaurant Roasted For New Year's Eve Party Plans

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — La Scala in Beverly Hills is doing some damage control over a note telling customers about a planned New Year's Eve dining party inside the restaurant.

Managers of the storied gourmet Italian eatery at 434 N. Canon Dr. now say they never intended to violate state health orders that prohibit in-person dining amid the recent surge in coronavirus cases, and insist the note was merely worded poorly.

The notes were recently placed in carry-out bags and made reference to a "speakeasy"-style party. A copy of the invitation posted on Twitter, written in cursive script, said: "Welcome back to the 20s' Prohibition. ... We are currently taking reservations for New Year's Eve dinner. Inside.
"If this is something you'd be interested in, please let us know as soon as possible. If enough interest we'll contact you back to secure a reservation. Please keep this discreet, but tell all your friends."

The post garnered a swift social media backlash after one user reposted La Scala's message. "Please help La Scala restaurant Beverly Hills get the word out that they're trying to have a discreet New Year's Eve dinner," one user tweeted Saturday, copying the City of Beverly Hills and Gov. Gavin Newsom.

On Monday, the restaurant said the "inside" part was just a joke, and the party was always contingent on state officials lifting the non-dining order before New Year's Eve.

"This is the message the note was meant to convey: With the dining ban set to expire on Dec. 28th we are hopeful of resuming some sort of table service and we are considering taking reservations for New Year's Eve," La Scala posted on Instagram. "If this is something you would be interested in, please let us know. If allowed, and if there's enough interest, we'll contact you to secure a reservation.

"Unfortunately, the person that wrote it tried to add some levity and said inside instead of outside. It didn't come out as intended, how we wanted to be represented, nor how we wanted to represent ourselves. ... If you can find fault in that, there is nothing more we can say. No harm was meant."

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Beverly Hills officials intervened last week when word got out about the invitation.

"The city has made direct contact with representatives of La Scala (on Dec 24) to confirm the conditions of the County's Health Order," Beverly Hills Public Information Officer Keith Sterling wrote in a statement.

"We understand this is an incredibly difficult time for all of our businesses, however the County Order does currently prohibit indoor and outdoor dining, including in the City of Beverly Hills."

The city's police department also said it was aware of the plans.

"Thank you for tagging the BHPD. Beverly Hills Code Enforcement is aware and will be handling this matter," the department tweeted on Friday.

The latest scandal comes not long after the Beverly Hills City Council sent a letter denouncing LA County's outdoor dining ban, arguing that it was not backed up by evidence and placed an undue burden on restaurants. The City Council then examined forming an independent Beverly Hills health department, as Pasadena has done, to avoid such orders in the future. While the Council unanimously approved the letter, they were more divided on forming their own health department.

Dr. Mark Ghaly, California's Health and Human Services secretary, is expected to announce Tuesday that the stay-at-home order for Southern California, including the ban on in-person dining, will be extended into the new year, as the region's ICU bed capacity officially remains at 0 percent.

— City News Service and Patch editor Michael Wittner contributed to this report.