Street Dining to be Likely Extended at Least Through 2021

Outdoor street dining, which has dramatically transformed Old Pasadena and other parts of the city, will likely be in place through at least the remainder of 2021, Pasadena Now has learned.

As Pasadena Public Information Officer Lisa Derderian said in an email Sunday, “A couple weeks ago City Council took action to purchase the barricades that allow for on-street dining to be in place. This was done with the intention of keeping on-street dining in place for as long as restaurant owners feel that it is helpful and beneficial to their establishment.”

Added Derderian, “These barricades will be removed to allow for the Rose Parade to take place and then will be re-deployed after the parade.”

Jack Huang, who owns Villa Sorriso, BarCelona, and Ixtapa in Old Pasadena, was pleased to hear the news, saying that the street dining configuration has been “very helpful” to his restaurants, as well as other restaurants, which had been barred from indoor dining for nearly a year, due to coronavirus pandemic restrictions.

Huang said Sunday that at least a dozen restaurant owners, along with Old Pasadena Management District leadership, had planned to ask City officials to keep the barriers in place indefinitely. As Huang added, jokingly, “We want the street dining. Let us keep it. We’ll take down the barricades ourselves and put them back up ourselves for the Rose Parade.”

Restaurant owners are currently banned from allowing indoor dining under a state health order.

According to the National Restaurant Association’s State of the Restaurant report, one in six restaurants have been forced to shut down long term or permanently as of September.

A that time, three million restaurant employees were unable to work, and nationwide, the industry lost $165 billion from March through July according to the report.