EDITORIAL

They really are dropping like flies in Newport Beach.

Nightspots. Places we used to love to visit. Places where we could go and

hope to meet new people, reminisce with old friends or just have fun.

Snug Harbor. The Cannery. Windows on the Bay.

Just added to the list last week: Twin Palms.

By now, we can almost count on a successful bar or restaurant near

running into problems with its neighbors who want their peace and quiet.

It’s a story heard frequently at City Council meetings and from local

business people. A story played out countless times in the pages of the

Daily Pilot.

But Twin Palms was different. The restaurant was in Newport Center -- a

large shopping mall surrounded by high-rise office buildings and

multistoried hotels. There are no residents close enough to hear

anything, with the exception of an upscale apartment building. But even

that is located near the police station and Chamber of Commerce offices

-- definitely not in earshot of any night life activity.

Still, the business was forced to close its doors. Guests at the nearby

Four Seasons Hotel complained about the noise from live bands and

late-night partying.

In this case, the hotel guests had a point. The tented restaurant had no

business being set up under the balconies of the 400-room Four Seasons

Hotel. The plan was fatally flawed from opening night.

Twin Palms will go, but the Four Seasons will use the charming,

tent-covered building for a banquet hall. Although it may seem a bit

ironic, it does make sense because now the hotel proprietors will be

responsible for, essentially, making themselves good neighbors.

If you live on the bay or in mixed-use Cannery Village, noise from

restaurants, bars and even passing boats is part of the deal. Newport

Beach is a thriving waterfront town, and the sidewalks -- and docks --

don’t roll up at 5.

And that’s why we’re felt some restaurants -- The Cannery and Windows

of the Bay, to name two -- have been prematurely closed because of

heavy-handed noise-control measures imposed on them by the City Council.

With Twin Palms, the lesson learned is don’t put a thriving restaurant

-- that features booming musci -- in a tent and stick it all right next

to a hotel.

Whatever the case, it seems that in Newport Beach, if you are in the

restaurant or bar business, the worst thing you could ask for is success.

With success come people, who bring noise, who disturb neighbors, who

then mobilize enough force to get you to shut down.

Party on, Newport. Not.

Newport Beach’s war against fun continues.