What a Progressive Utopia Does to Outdoor Dining

If outdoor dining can flourish anywhere, surely it can do so in California—where the weather is temperate and a wildly diverse corps of chefs has year-round access to high-quality produce, seafood, and wine. Yet before the pandemic hit, the Golden State had long been outclassed in offering congenial surroundings for alfresco dining. Yes, I’m thinking of Paris and its famous sidewalk cafés. But even smaller cities in France, Spain, and Italy offered a higher density of pleasant outdoor seats than Los Angeles, population 3.9 million. San Francisco is slightly bigger and much drier than Portland, Oregon, yet in my observation the latter had superior patio options.

But when the pandemic hit, state and local officials relaxed various rules. Suddenly, the hurdles to converting parking spaces into outdoor seating areas were low enough for many restaurateurs to clear.

What if things were always that easy?

For decades, it turns out, needlessly onerous regulations had deprived Californians of both the pleasure of eating outdoors and the convivial streetscapes that curbside dining creates. Before COVID-19, “a restaurant or bar, in order to serve outside, would basically have to expand their liquor permit,” state Senator Scott Wiener told . “It could that said that if a city allowed it, they could expand alcohol sales outside, he continued. “That’s been great, not just for bars or restaurants, but patrons like it,” Wiener said. “And it activates public spaces.”