AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File
- Officials in Burbank, California, put up a fence around the Tin Horn Flats grill to stop it reopening.
- The restaurant had repeatedly defied lockdown measures. Officials cut off power and padlocked the door.
- Its owners say they'll never comply, and will keep serving diners.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Officials in Burbank, California, have put up a chain-link fence around a restaurant that repeatedly refused to stop serving diners during the pandemic.
Authorities had already revoked Tin Horn Flats' public-health permit, cut off its power supply, padlocked the door, and arrested one co-owner three times – but the restaurant stayed open, using its own generator.
The city erected the fence on Saturday after receiving a preliminary injunction, Burbank police Lt. Derek Green said at a media briefing, per NBC Los Angeles.
In Instagram posts from Tin Horn Flats showing the fence being erected, the restaurant said it would still not comply with demands to close.
The restaurant told Insider staff wore masks and that people couldn't eat indoors.
Tinhorn Flats repeatedly defied COVID-19 safety orders
On July 1, Los Angeles County officials ordered restaurants to halt indoor dining. From November 25 to January 29, outdoor dining was prohibited too.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health received dozens of complaints that Tinhorn Flats was still serving people outside. Co-owner Baret Lepejian previously told Insider that he kept the restaurant open to avoid "certain major debt" and because there was "zero science and zero sense" behind the lockdown orders.
After it ignored multiple orders to stop outdoor dining, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health suspended and then revoked the restaurants' public-health permit in January.
The city of Burbank cut off the electricity supply to Tinhorn Flats on March 13 - but the restaurant continued to serve customers using its own generator.
The Los Angeles Superior Court then gave the city authorization to padlock the restaurants' doors on March 18. That same day, the restaurant cut the latch on the side door to allow people to enter the restaurant, while leaving the front doors padlocked. City authorities removed the other padlocks just one day after putting them on, saying that the restaurant's decision to stay open meant the locked door was a fire-safety hazard.
As well as issuing the restaurant a red-tag, which means the building is too unsafe to be used, Burbank police placed sandbags in front of its doors so that people couldn't enter. But Baret Lepejian's son, Lucas Lepejian, who also co-owns the restaurant, removed the sandbags - leading to his third arrest in just three days.
Protests have been held outside the restaurant urging authorities to let it reopen, and local residents are divided on the issue. Dozens called into a Burbank City Council meeting Friday that focused on the restaurant, with one local asking the council to drop lawsuits against Tin Horn Flats, while others said that its refusal to close put people's health at risk.
-Christian Leonard (@xianleonard) April 6, 2021
Baret Lepejian previously told Insider he would consider taking the city to the Supreme Court, and said: "I will never pay fines or penalties for 'crimes' I never committed." He told The Los Angeles Times that fines totaling around $50,000 had been levied against the business.
Lucas Lepejian set up a GoFundMe page to foot legal bills. Since it was created on March 2, the campaign has raised more than $76,000 from 1,600 donors.
Los Angeles County has let other restaurants reopen for both indoor and outdoor dining with certain COVID-19 measures in place.