New French Restaurant To Seek Liquor License Next Week

Local chef James Graham will go before the Los Angeles City Planning Department on Wednesday, July 6 to secure a liquor license for Ba,  the Rustic French Restaurant he plans to open on 5100 York Blvd. later this summer.

For our previous story on Ba, .

The meeting is scheduled to take place on 1 p.m. at the Los Angeles City Hall on 200 N. Spring St. in Room 1020.

On Friday, Graham sent out an e-mail encouraging friends and colleagues to contact the planning department in support of his application.

Graham said he plans to offer full dinner service at Ba until 11 p.m., with a lighter menu available until the restaurant closes 1 a.m. He said he is asking for permission to serve beer and wine, but not hard liquor, until 2 a.m. , "just so that the permission is in place."

"While be believe our application will be approved, there are some anti-alcohol activists in the neighborhood that will speak out against it and try to limit our hours of operation," Graham wrote. "We are hoping people will write in an point out that if the store is open and the lights are on and the staff is present, the whole area is much safer than if it were dark and shuttered."

Janet Dodson, of the 's land use committee, said the committee has already given their support to the overall project, and would likely bless the liquor license application during their meeting on Tuesday, July 5.

"If the land use committee approves the letter, I will call Mr. Graham on Wednesday morning and let him know he can share that information with the planning department," Dodson said.

Dodson said that, while she understood the trepidation of some locals about the proliferation of liquor selling establishments in Highland Park, she considered Graham's application to be a special circumstance.

"This is not a liquor store--this is an application for beer and wine," she said. "And they will be selling food until 1 a.m., it won't be like a bar."