Just as most of California’s restaurants got the official go-ahead to reopen more broadly Tuesday, the operators of a Burbank bar and grill who refused to close when coronavirus lockdowns shuttered much of the region have been evicted.
The family behind Barfly, Inc., which ran Tinhorn Flats Saloon & Grill on Magnolia Boulevard before waging legal battle against Burbank and Los Angles County health officials for months, were barred from the property Tuesday.
A Sheriff’s Department spokesman said deputies locked the current operators out at 6:30 a.m. The evictions follow the city’s filing for a restraining order against Barfly and its operators, Baret Lepejian and his two children.
Burbank city officials said they handed the keys to the business over to Isabelle Lepejian, who is Baret Lepejian’s ex-wife and owns the building. L.A. County records show the couple were officially divorced last August, after more than eight years of litigation but before the showdown with Burbank and county health officials began.
In a statement, Burbank officials said Tuesday’s lockout was “the last step in the eviction process (Isabelle Lepejian) initiated against Tinhorn Flats.”
The Sheriff’s Department confirmed Isabelle Lepejian filed for an eviction in Pasadena court in April.
The standoff between Burbank and Tinhorn Flats began last December, when the L.A. County Department of Public Health instituted a ban on outdoor dining and large gatherings. At the time, coronavirus case counts were skyrocketing. Deaths mounted in the tens of thousands.
When L.A. County health inspectors visited Tinhorn Flats on Dec. 13, however, they found its patio bustling with customers. That kicked off a months-long feud: Health inspectors came back 28 times, handing out citations each time. In late January, the restaurant had its conditional-use and health permits revoked. In May, an L.A. County Superior Court judge upheld the city’s restraining order against Barfly.
Baret Lepejian is listed as the president of Barfly in state business records. But he has been out of the country for most of the last year — he said on Tinhorn Flats’ Instagram account that he was stuck in Thailand due to coronavirus travel restrictions.
His son, Lucas Lepejian, has since been running the restaurant. In that time, the 20-year-old waged much of the standoff with Burbank. He has goaded city officials with increasingly defiant statements.
On a GoFundMe page raising money so the family could pay celebrity attorney Mark Geragos to represent them, he called Burbank city officials “clowns.” He was arrested three times for violating the restraining order, removing sandbags from the restaurant, and another time cutting a padlock with a hacksaw as a small crowd cheered him on.
The restaurant’s fight has become a cause célèbre among some on the far right, including some local supporters of former President Donald Trump.
It was unclear Tuesday who would run the bar, or whether it would reopen.
Isabelle Lepejian could not be reached for comment Tuesday. An attorney for her also did not return a request for comment.
A spokesman for Burbank did not answer emailed questions. And the city attorney’s office declined to comment. Officials said the eviction would not affect the city’s ongoing lawsuits regarding the restraining order, permit revocations and a $50,000 fine levied against the restaurant.
Neither Baret nor Lucas Lepejian could immediately be reached for comment Tuesday. The phone line for Tinhorn Flats remains disconnected.
On their active Instagram page, there was no post acknowledging that they’d be evicted. The last post was published Monday wishing Trump a happy birthday.
Other restaurants in Southern California that refused to close for coronavirus-related health orders faced similar fates. Restauration in Long Beach closed earlier this year after the restaurant’s owner was criminally charged over her attempts to reopen, even after the city cut off her utilities.
