LA’s Modified Pandemic Public Health Orders Do Away With Overnight Curfews, Too

Now that LA County is moving to align with the state’s own modified stay-at-home orders, which (among other things) has given the region the go-ahead for restaurants to reopen outdoor dining on Friday, there are going to be a few new rules around town. Among them: No more curfew. Back on November 25, incoming shelter-in-place orders limited travel for residents — including no hotel stays — and mandated that people stay at home between the hours of 10 p.m. and 5 a.m.

Now, with the changing public health orders, tourism is once again allowed, as are small multi-family gatherings of up to three households. Los Angeles County officials are working to modify the region’s own public health order to more closely align with the state, and may indeed allow restaurants to serve customers past 10 p.m., though formal language is still to come. County health officer Dr. Barbara Ferrer has already hinted at a few upcoming changes, including 50 percent outdoor dining capacity; other jurisdictions, including the state, do not have capacity limits, only protocol mandates like keeping six feet of distance between tables.

In other news:

• As LA restaurants prepared to reopen outdoor dining, The Hollywood Reporter checked in with a number of Southland restaurants. Some are ready to go (and eager for the moment), but most say that reopening is restaurant is certainly “not as easy as flipping a light switch.”
• After seven years, McCall’s Meat and Fish Co. owners Karen and Nathan McCall have sold the business. The changeover was announced via Instagram, and includes an introduction to new owners David and Michelle Sarraf.
• In December, Musso & Frank launched an employee crowdfunding relief fund, raising over $100,000 on GoFundMe to help the company’s 84 furloughed employees in the process, reports CBS-2.
• Here’s a great Black-owned vegan restaurant list from VegOut, including Compton Vegan, Stuff I Eat, and Jackfruit Cafe.
• Everytable is on an ambitious track in 2021 after signing nine leases in Southern California, with a goal to open at least 20 stores in 2021, and another 20 in 2022. The new stores will eventually be owned and operated by franchisees in its Social Equity Franchise program.
• E Stretto Sandwich Shop closed yesterday after a Sunday night break-in. On Instagram, the owners posted this was the third time burglars targeted the Downtown location in just seven months, where they took money, food product, and equipment.

• It’s Official: LA County to Allow Outdoor Restaurant Dining Starting Friday [ELA]