https://www.tmz.com/videos/2020-12-05-120520-pineapple-hill-grill-4894648/
An L.A. restaurant owner is calling out Mayor Garcetti and Gov. Newsom for allowing film sets to continue operating, while once again closing down outdoor dining … but her comparison might be apples to oranges as far as containing the virus.
This is restaurateur Angela Marsden, and she posted a video showing a movie production in full swing — with outdoor tables and tents set up right next door to her now-shuttered eatery, Pineapple Hill Saloon & Grill, in Sherman Oaks.
In the video, Marsden says she can’t fathom why her restaurant was forced to shut down (again) — even after she had successfully ran outdoor dining for months behind her building — but film sets like this, which look virtually identical in set-up dining-wise, can soldier on.
The new rule — restaurants close on-the-spot dining, while music/video production can keep rolling — is one of many that have left Angelenos scratching their head as Mayor Garcetti has instituted a new stay-at-home order in the City, which just got expanded to all of SoCal.
In a section about activities and businesses allowed to keep operating, production in L.A. can continue — which explains the Sherman Oaks set — but it says clearly … they gotta follow COVID protocols as outlined by the County.
That’s where Marsden might be mistaken in her juxtaposition. Fact is … there’s a ton of rules that production companies must abide by in order to shoot, including regular testing, plus a bunch of other mandates … mask-wearing, temp checks, social distancing, sanitized sets, etc.
The big difference is the testing, and who’s allowed in or out. A movie or TV shoot can have an awful lot of people on hand (just like a restaurant) at any given time, but the dinstinction is that the set — while it’s shooting — is treated almost like a bubble, whereas a restaurant is revolving door of strangers, who aren’t required to get tested to partake.
While Marsden’s desperate pleas for help are heart-breaking — as are so many business owners asking for assistance — her thinking is somewhat flawed. Tough times, either way.
