Bar Shut Down to Delight of Activists and Police

What authorities have called Ventura County’s most notorious bar was permanently closed Friday to the delight of police and community activists.

As neighborhood activists and police officers looked on, state liquor officials posted signs revoking the liquor license of The Launch Pad, which occupied a tired-looking, two-story stucco building set among farm fields south of Oxnard just off Pacific Coast Highway.

The small tavern, redolent with the smell of stale beer, was cited for 19 violations between 1994 and 1996 by the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, officials said. During the same period, 29 incidents that required an arrest or police report also occurred. Those incidents included solicitation, assault with a deadly weapon, possession of narcotics and allowing minors on the premises.

“This place has been a haven for crime for years,” said Officer George Orozco of the California Highway Patrol. “Nothing compares to this bar in the whole county of Ventura. If I had to pick a bar in Ventura County that needed to get their liquor license revoked, this was it.”

Damaso Leanos, who has operated the bar that since 1977 had catered largely to migrant farm workers, said he has tried to run a clean establishment. The closure, which he believes occurred in part because of discrimination by authorities, will leave five people without jobs.

“I’ve had a lot of trouble with the sheriff,” Leanos said. “[He] hates my guts. . . . According to these people, I have a lot of violations, but they never told me about anything.”

The Launch Pad, originally a hangout for military personnel, went out in a big way Thursday night with a raucous party that made talking on the telephone almost impossible for bartender Julie Medroza.

“We’re raffling bottles and stuff,” she screamed into the receiver. “It’s too bad after we’ve been here almost 30 years.”

But few people outside bar regulars were lamenting the watering hole’s demise.

Representatives of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence, Oxnard-Port Hueneme Community Action Coalition to Prevent DUI and other community groups used the media event as an opportunity to warn of the dangers of irresponsibly using and selling alcohol.

“This notorious landmark is finally going down,” said Vicky Gonzales, 26, a member of the Oxnard-Port Hueneme and La Colonia coalitions. “Basically, they weren’t a good neighbor to this community and they didn’t take the responsibility of being a good citizen.”

“This is not about putting good, legitimate businesses out of business,” said Sharon Troll, a member of a group that is closely watching several bars in west Ventura. “If you sell alcohol to our kids, you’re out of business, get out of town.”

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Police said the bar has been a source of problems for years, ranging from prostitution in upstairs rooms to sober patrons acting as weaving driving decoys to tie up patrol officers so inebriated customers can drive away without being pulled over.

In 1995, two fatal car crashes involving Launch Pad patrons occurred within a month of each other, officials said.

Still, it took a combination of inspections and undercover work over the past 18 months to gather enough evidence of violations to close the bar down, said Ed Macias, supervising special investigator with the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. He has only three employees to cover Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

“This is a warning to other licensees--and they know who they are--who are running establishments as bad or as worse than this one,” Macias said.

One year must pass before an alcohol license will be considered for any business at the site, though Macias doubted that situation would arise.

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Leanos, who denied his business was the refuge for prostitution and other criminal activity that police allege, is unlikely to ever receive another liquor license either, Macias said.

Not that he planned to apply anyway.

Leanos sold his liquor license for $15,000 to someone who plans to open a bar in Simi Valley.

“I’m ready to retire, I’m 65,” he said, adding that he owns land in the area. “I’m going to become a farmer.”