Crash leaves Beach House dark indefinitely
An out-of-control motorist drove through the Beach House Restaurant in Santa Monica Canyon last weekend, destroying the posh dining room there and breaking the foot of a teenage passenger.
“She was under the influence, very intoxicated, and hit the curb and the sidewalk at 65 mph and exploded into the restaurant,” Beach House owner Liza Utter said.
Jessica Jones, 34, of Altadena, crashed her white Mitsubishi Eclipse into the restaurant at about 5:30 a.m. Saturday as she turned left onto West Channel Road from Pacific Coast Highway, according to a police report. Jones wasn’t arrested, but the police report indicates she was under the influence. The investigation is ongoing, police said.
Utter said the car struck every table in the 80-person dining room, knocking down an 800-pound concrete pillar before finally coming to a stop 50 feet into the building, near the hostess stand.
Though the restaurant was empty, a 14-year-old boy who was in the car with Jones was taken to a nearby hospital and treated for a broken foot, Utter said. It’s unknown if the boy is related to the woman. Jones was treated for lacerations and broken bones.
Santa Monica resident Ben Lunsky, who arrived on the scene about 90 minutes after the accident, said the crash created an eerie scene, with the mangled hulk of the car coming to a stop next to white table cloth dinner settings. That mess was still in place Monday afternoon, as Utter placed calls to insurance companies and began the process of reopening the restaurant.
Utter, who opened the Beach House more than five years ago, said the restaurant will remain closed for as long as it takes to remodel. She added that although she is worried about how long her 40-staff person restaurant will be closed, she is more concerned about getting people to return once it opens.
“For whatever reason, people cannot seem to negotiate that corner,” she said, adding that though the City of West LA is responsible for West Channel Road, the City of Santa Monica is responsible for the portion of PCH in front of her restaurant. “It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when it’s going to happen again. And if somebody else is injured or, God forbid, there is a fatality, I personally couldn’t live with myself.”
“For whatever reason, people cannot seem to negotiate that corner. It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when it’s going to happen again. And if somebody else is injured or, God forbid, there is a fatality, I personally couldn’t live with myself.”
Utter said her calls and letters to officials have one goal: She wants a barricade installed at the intersection to protect her building from passing motorists.
In the meantime, workers have a major cleanup project ahead of them at the Beach House. A tire from the Mitsubishi still sits on top of a heap of broken tables and chairs in the center of the dining room. A hubcap is nearby next to the load-bearing pillar toppled by the crash. And a 6-by-12 inch cloth section of booth is stuck to the ceiling, in the spot where it was left after Jones ripped through the empty room.
“It looks like a bomb went off in the restaurant,” Utter said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 11, 2003. Read the original PDF.