Manhattan Beach “7-11” suspended of its alcohol and liquor license

By Allie King

Staff Writer

The State of California’s Alcoholic Beverage Control agency suspended the local “7-11” of its alcohol and liquor license on Feb 21 because it sold alcohol to minors.

In the last year, the Manhattan Beach “7-11” has had two violations of sales to people under the age of 21. Prior to these incidents, the Manhattan Beach Police Department conducted a “minor decoy” sting, in which the police department sent someone who is not 21 into an establishment. There, this minor will present to an employee their true identification to clearly state that they are under 21. If the employee decides to furnish them with alcohol, they could have to serve time in court or the businesse’s alcoholic beverage license could be suspended. The last day of 7-11’s license suspense was March 22.

“I definitely feel the ‘minor decoy’ sting is an effective program,” Schoool Resource Officer John Loy said. “It can help establishments to notice things like fake identification and so on. It gives staff at these establishments the opportunity to better themselves and uphold the law better.”

The “minor decoy” sting has been active in Manhattan Beach for several years, and is apart of the “shoulder tap” program, which was created by the Alcoholic Beverage Control in 1994. Along with Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach and El Segundo have also partaken in stings.

“The Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach and El Segundo Police Departments are committed to providing the finest police service to residents, businesses and visitors in our communities,” MBPD Sgt. Chris Vargas said.

Manhattan Beach has a total of 125 bars, restaurants and retail stores who are licensed to sell alcohol. 40 of those businesses were tested by the “minor decoy” sting, or “shoulder tap” program, and the three that failed to prevent minors from purchasing alcohol were Coco’s Restaurant, India’s Tandoori and Olive Garden. MBPD hopes that in the future programs like the sting or shoulder tap will help reduce the amount of minors purchasing and consuming alcohol.

“This is something we have been doing for years,” Vargas said. “We don’t lie to them. We don’t trick them. The goal of the stings is to reduce underage consumption of alcohol through education and enforcement.”