Bartender Receives National Attention for Noting “Hypocrisy” of California Virus Shutdowns

She moved to Los Angeles to become – what else? – an actor. Then dabbled in real estate. Studied to become a dental technician. But Angela Marsden has spent her life in restaurants since she was a teenager in Fort Wayne, Indiana, serving coffee at Bob’s Big Boy and working the drive-thru at Dairy Queen.

“I continued to pursue my dreams for this and that, when I was the happiest of working restaurants,” says Marsden, 48.

This and that fell by the wayside. Work restaurants have become his everything.

Ten years ago, she bought Pineapple Hill Saloon & Grill at a Sherman Oaks mall with a silent partner. He’s been there on Boulevard Van Nuys since 1978, a time for a restaurant. The joint is known for its Wings, Reubens, Bottomless Mimosas, and 26 beers on tap – lots of craft beers, but top sellers are Coors Light and Bud Light.

“It feels like a bar in the Midwest. There aren’t many in LA anymore, ”Marsden says over the phone from where she calls“ the pub ”. It is a major meeting place in the valley for Viking fans to cheer for matches.

Plus, she says, “I don’t like trendy places.

Now, within days, Marsden has become an accidental spokesperson for her pandemic-ravaged industry, after she railed in a heart-wrenching video about the unfairness and arbitrariness of civic ordinances costing restaurants thousands of dollars when they cannot pay their bills. The video, just over two minutes long, went viral on December 4.

Equally quickly, Marsden has become a symbol and a talking point for small-government conservative Republicans who are enraged by the pandemic restrictions imposed by Democrats. She has become the whooping cough of Fox News, as some people wish she died and her staff contracted covid-19, the disease that can be caused by the new coronavirus.

The owner of the small restaurant simply wants the pandemic and its economic ramifications to go beyond partisanship.

“I’m losing everything,” said a masked Marsden in the video, on the verge of tears. “We cannot survive. My staff cannot survive. After coronavirus cases increased in Los Angeles, owners of restaurants such as Marsden were ordered to close outdoor seats before Thanksgiving, but food services for the production of the NBC series “Good Girls” were allowed a few meters in the same parking lot. They are virtually identical, except that the production dining room is considerably larger.

“Tell me it’s dangerous,” she said incredulously, gesturing to the two spaces. “But right next to me, like a slap in the face, for sure.”

She is calling two Democrats, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and California Governor Gavin Newsom, whose state is the latest epicenter of the coronavirus. The governor has ruled that film and television productions are essential businesses and are exempt from the latest stay-at-home order. Marsden also helped organize a protest outside the home of Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, another Democrat. This is California, after all, where Democrats control just about everything.

“My heart goes out to Ms. Marsden and the workers at the Pineapple Hill Saloon who must comply with state and county public health restrictions that close alfresco dining,” Garcetti said in a public statement. Days before Marsden’s video, he ordered one-time payments of $ 800 for 4,000 unemployed restaurant workers.

The governor’s press office helps in an email that restoring a production is “for the closed world of those working on set.” . . . It’s not open to the general public – so these film crew support services don’t encourage the mix of households that aren’t already interacting. “

Marsden says she is not political in nature, which is reflected in her social media posts, and she declined to share her party affiliation. “It’s not political. This is just a true statement of fact, ”Marsden said of his appeals.

But politics have infected almost everything. The entertainment industry is considered powerful and notoriously liberal by conservatives. Here is the story of a Valley Bar owner David indirectly calling a Goliath, NBC, who understands left-wing MSNBC.

Donald Trump Jr. was among the first to retweet the video. (It turns out he’s dating Newsom’s ex-wife Kimberly Guilfoyle.) In a speech in the House – insulting President Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. –Representative Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, invoked Marsden’s name. “Everyone should watch this video,” he said, noting that “it represents millions of Americans who are suffering.” The video of Crenshaw’s speech was posted by Dinesh D’Souza and viewed almost a million times. Daniel Henninger of the Wall Street Journal cited Marsden as a representative of “the new covid resistance” against the Democrats. She was kissed by conservative talk show host Howie Carr and podcaster Dave Rubin, the latter appearing during his protest outside Kuehl’s home. All in a few days.

The same day his video went viral, Marsden launched a GoFundMe page, which raised over $ 200,000 from over 4,000 people. Many gifts are noted with emphatic political messages. “I hate tyranny and the elite of the left,” wrote one donor. “It is clear that Democratic CA politicians are accountable to the lobbyists and not to the working man or woman. It is shameful ! It is time to revoke them, ”noted another.

Marsden has appeared on Fox News, along with Lou Dobbs, Neil Cavuto, “Fox & Friends Weekend” and Sean Hannity, who has promoted his advocacy GoFundMe. Fox also reported calling NBC for failing to mention that the catering tents in his video were for the network’s “Good Girls”.

She was most pointed in her review of Newsom. In interviews, Marsden criticized him for dining at the Tony Napa Valley French Laundry in a partially enclosed space in November. “His cellar has been open all the time. His cellar didn’t close a day, ”Marsden told the Washington Post. Wineries have been named as a critical business in California, and a Newsom spokesperson said it has complied with the guidelines.

Marsden says his goal is not to choose a political camp: “I have also appeared on MSNBC.” She has conducted local, national and international interviews, addressing all those who ask her.

One of its bartenders, Liz McCracken, has been named as its planner and publicist. She arranged the interview with The Post by calling a reporter “Babe”. Another bartender manages the videos and social media. A third, an aspiring makeup artist, makes Marsden glam for interviews.

Marsden is behind on his bar’s $ 10,000 monthly rent. Her monthly payroll was around $ 25,000 when she could afford to employ 15 people. She took out a disaster relief loan, spending around $ 60,000 to comply with coronavirus protocols, install plexiglass partitions and erect outdoor spaces, while serving far fewer clients.

“I did everything they asked me to do,” she says. “I wanted to be known as someone who did everything to ensure the safety of their clients and staff.”

Savings? “This place is my retreat.

There was a brief period in June where coronavirus cases plummeted, the weather behaved well and Pineapple Hill went from hemorrhaging $ 35,000 a month to losing just $ 12,000. Then the heatwave struck. Now that alfresco dining has been closed until cases of the virus subside, Marsden has returned to take-out only. It’s hard to make the monthly nut on Rubens and Wings.

Marsden is the type of person who shares her heartache story with a stranger and cries easily, especially when she talks about Pineapple Hill.

“It’s about people. I don’t care if they’re Republicans or Democrats. They have to start working for our people, ”she said. “We are living a humanitarian crisis before our eyes. “

Again, sobbing.

She doesn’t know when she can reopen. She doesn’t understand why television and movies, backed by wealthy corporations, can serve food outdoors when Pineapple Hill, following every order, can’t. All of this, and the rainy months of January and February, can make returning to outdoor dining a challenge.

“They are killing us. I can’t stand the hypocrisy anymore. Let’s end these fights and bickering, ”says Marsden. ” Know what ? I’m not well.