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San Francisco Chronicle
02-07-2025
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
A hip Oakland bar shut down after 5 days. But controversy had been brewing for months
It was set to be Oakland's coolest new cafe and bar: an acclaimed chef serving top-tier coffee and snacks during the day, then wine to a soundtrack of vinyl records until 2 a.m. It looked like a residential apartment. That's because it was one. In early March, chef Andres Giraldo Florez opened Upstairs in the second-floor unit above his popular restaurant Snail Bar at 4935 Shattuck Ave. Customers poured in on opening day, posting Instagram selfies while sitting among mismatched pillows on couches and dancing with glasses of wine as the sun set. Five days later, city officials abruptly shut it down, citing a lack of permits. For weeks leading up to the closure, Florez, city staff and neighbors had been clashing over the unusual proposal to turn a residential apartment into a bar. City staff wrangled with complications such as an ice machine in a bedroom closet and a 'problematic' bathtub, according to emails the Chronicle obtained under the Public Records Act. Depending on who you asked, the challenges of Upstairs represented another example of city bureaucracy hampering a small business — or an owner with a history of flouting regulations. In an interview with the Chronicle, Florez acknowledged that he opened Upstairs without all of the required permits. He was frustrated, he said, by the slog of a city process that left him paying rent without bringing in income for months. 'We were just trying to open and then fix things as we go,' he said. 'I got a lot of bills that pile up if I don't operate.' The City of Oakland did not respond to questions for this article. It's the latest chapter in a line of permitting snafus for Florez. Snail Bar's original location in the back of a classic car dealership in Oakland closed after three days due to permitting issues in 2020. Since the restaurant opened on Shattuck Avenue in 2021, there have been 10 code enforcement issues, according to city records, including illegal construction and noise ordinance violations. The busy restaurant has drawn ire from neighbors, several of whom have since sued Snail Bar and its landlord over noise and other complaints. For 22 years, the second-floor space overlooking Shattuck Avenue was the home of Chris Cantor. He moved out last year amid a long feud with Snail Bar. Cantor alleged he was forced out and sued the restaurant as well as the building's property management company, Advent Properties, and landlord Gee Whiz LLC for wrongful eviction. They've denied his allegations in court. The case is set for a September trial. With the apartment vacant, Florez announced last fall that he'd open a business there in part to relieve crowds at Snail Bar. But he soon learned from the city that converting an apartment wholly to commercial use would violate state and city housing laws. So Florez came up with a new plan: preserving a two-bedroom apartment with its own kitchen and bathroom on one side, connected by a hallway to Upstairs on the other. For months, the Upstairs team sent frustrated emails to the city about the status of their application. After a nearly six-hour phone call with Florez in February, Oakland city planner Danny Thai signed off on Upstairs' plans, according to emails. Thai reminded Florez's team that the next step was to secure a building permit. Then, Upstairs' designer 'suddenly' asked if the business needed a permit to host DJs playing vinyl music, Thai wrote in an email. Oakland businesses that serve alcohol, offer dancing and operate later than 11 p.m., like Upstairs would, are required to get a cabaret permit. 'Andres did say that he has been slapped on the wrist and would like to do things the right way,' Cristy Johnson, a deputy director for business development in the city's Economic & Workforce Development Department, wrote in a Feb. 10 email to city staff. Florez told her that the space would be sound-proofed to avoid noise complaints from neighbors. 'What the heck does this mean?' Candell wrote in a Feb. 11 email to Thai. 'Do you know how hard it is and what little resources we have available to enforce a nighttime noise issue?' Other issues bubbled up. A Planning & Building supervisor told Thai that the kitchen in the residential apartment needed a stove and a fridge, 'not a hot plate.' And Thai noticed something else: a bathtub. 'Bathtubs are not appropriate for a commercial activity,' he emailed Florez on Feb. 11. Florez responded with a photograph of the bathtub in question. It was covered with a patterned cloth and decorated with a ceramic vase. 'The tub is not a tub that's just a table,' he wrote. 'You will need to remove that bathtub. It is not a table,' Thai told Florez. 'The fact that this 'bathtub' exists in a commercial area is problematic.' (Florez hired a plumber to remove the bathtub.) Whether anyone would actually live in the apartment, and if the city asked for proof of that, is unclear. Florez declined to answer if he planned to use the apartment for a residential purpose. By late February, Florez still hadn't filed for the required building permit, which usually takes at least four months to process, according to an email from Thai. Thai again reminded Florez and his team that they can only operate once they complete that step. Meanwhile, neighbors pressed the city to look more closely at Upstairs. They argued that Florez didn't intend to maintain the residential apartment. They filed an appeal, which the city denied. 'It's your job to help people and guide applicants successfully through the application process, but there have to be limits to what you will overlook,' Cantor wrote to city staff. 'Even for small business owners, even if they are budding celebrity chefs.' The next week, a splashy SFGate article announced Upstairs would open on March 7 with specialty coffee, natural wine and a 'state-of-the-art DJ booth.' (The Chronicle and SFGate are both owned by Hearst but operate separate newsrooms.) 'Nobody's ever going to live up here peacefully,' Florez told SFGate. The article circulated among city staff and neighbors. Cantor sent city employees a screenshot of what he claims was supposed to be a bedroom but was billed as a public 'lounge room.' He questioned whether anyone would actually live in the 'imaginary' apartment that shares walls with an all-day cafe that serves alcohol and plays music late at night. He asked the city attorney to scrutinize the city's handling of the case. Florez declined to confirm to the Chronicle whether the 'lounge room' is on the residential or commercial side of the space. 'It's still something we're working on zoning wise,' he said. Mark Romoser, an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) program analyst for the city, saw potential accessibility issues in the published photographs. 'It sure doesn't look accessible from the pics in this article. It's even called 'Upstairs,'' he wrote. 'There must be an elevator out of frame, or else how could (Planning & Building) have granted permits for it?' (There was no elevator.) The city also received an accessibility complaint from Richard Skaff of nonprofit Designing Accessible Communities, which has filed dozens of ADA lawsuits against businesses, asking whether Upstairs had met requirements such as access from the ground to second floor. With the increased media attention, city inspectors flagged internally, again, that Upstairs did not have a building permit. 'Use of the upstairs area should cease until the required permits, inspections and approvals have taken place,' David Miles, principal inspection supervisor for the city's Planning & Building Department, emailed an inspector and other staff on March 4. The city opened a code enforcement case, according to records. Three days later, Upstairs debuted anyway. Neighbors emailed city staff that crowds spilled out onto the sidewalks that first night. 'The upstairs business represents an escalation of unpermitted activity and the impact on the neighborhood and public safety is going to be significant,' they wrote. Inside City Hall, Candell again admonished the planning department for failing to 'put some guard rails on approvals to hedge against issues that are likely to come up.' Zoning manager Robert Merkamp told him that the department had done what it could within its scope, even if 'sometimes we suspect they're not giving it to us completely straight.' On March 11, the city sent a cease and desist letter stating Upstairs was operating without proper permits in violation of city codes and had to close immediately. 'We're trying to be patient but we are being hit (with) overwhelming costs,' Florez emailed city officials, including a councilmember, that day. 'I would really appreciate some urgency here as I have 6 employees.' Some city officials, including City Councilmember Janani Ramachandran, checked in about Upstairs' approval, records show. And despite Florez's frustration, planning and zoning staff told him in emails that his process was relatively quick. While Upstairs remains temporarily closed, Florez plans to start construction to bring the business into compliance with city regulations. He has to install a three-compartment sink (a health department stipulation that requires new plumbing, he said) and replace tiled countertops with stainless steel. A pending building application filed on March 6 also proposed constructing a new wall to divide the unit, commercial kitchen facilities and a dining area, at an estimated cost of $20,000, according to city records. He applied for a cabaret permit for Snail Bar though he said it's on hold until Upstairs is approved. He hopes to reopen Upstairs in August. Yet the business hasn't been completely quiet. On Sunday night, during Snail Bar's fourth anniversary party, social media posts showed people congregating in the still-closed Upstairs space, drinking wine while a DJ played music.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Yahoo
Diddy Tried to Bribe Security Over Cassie Hotel Beating, Guard Testifies
Diddy offered a hotel security guard a stack of money to keep quiet about the Cassie beating ... at least according to the guy's court testimony. The first witness called to the stand in Diddy's sex trafficking case Monday was the assistant director of security at the InterContinental Los Angeles Century City at Beverly Hills Hotel ... and he was grilled about the infamous 2016 incident between Diddy and Cassie. The witness, Israel Florez, says he got a report of a woman in distress on the 6th floor around 11 AM and checked the cameras ... and saw Diddy pacing back and forth. Florez told the jury he rushed to the scene and encountered Diddy in a towel and Cassie on the floor. He says he told them if they were arguing, they needed to take it back to their room, and he says he noticed a broken vase on the floor and told Diddy it would be charged to the room. Cassie stated she asked for her phone and her bag and wanted to leave, but Diddy told her she couldn't leave ... Florez testified. Florez told the jury Diddy later called for him and was holding a stack of money ... telling him not to tell anyone about what happened. He testified that he told Diddy he didn't want the money, and the damage would still be charged to the room. The hotel security guard testified he went to Diddy's room to remind him of hotel rules ... and Diddy opened the door and grabbed his phone, and asked if he was recording Diddy. Florez says he pinned Diddy to the wall. Florez says he took photos of the broken vase for an incident report and recorded two videos of the surveillance footage with his iPhone, explaining he wanted to show his wife at home. He says he had the following two days off -- and when he returned to work, he looked for the surveillance video ... but "it was gone" and he never saw it again until recently. On cross-examination, Diddy attorney Brian Steel asked Florez if law enforcement was called, and Florez said, "they were not." He asked why Florez didn't put that in the report and why he didn't include the part about Diddy allegedly telling Cassie she wasn't leaving. Florez said he didn't put every last detail in his reports. Steel asked Florez, "You were offered a bribe -- but hadn't you told him he had to pay for the vase?" Florez responded, "Yes." The prosecution circled back and asked Florez what Diddy said when he allegedly offered the money, and Florez testified that Diddy didn't want anyone to know about what happened. Florez also testified that the video shows Diddy dragging Cassie back to the room ... and Steel asked if there are gaps in the footage because the cameras are motion sensitive, and Florez said, "Yes." His testimony is done and now the prosecution's second witness is coming to the stand.
Sydney Morning Herald
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Take it to your room': Security guard tells Diddy trial of finding Cassie in hotel
WARNING: This article contains graphic detail that may distress some readers. New York: A former security guard has told a court Sean 'Diddy' Combs offered him a 'stack' of cash following a violent altercation between the rapper and his then-girlfriend in the aftermath of a 'freak-off' sexual encounter in a Los Angeles hotel. The assault, in which Combs hits, kicks and begins to drag Cassandra Ventura, the R&B singer known as Cassie, down a hotel hallway, was caught on surveillance footage and was published by CNN last year. It was also shown to the jury in Combs' racketeering and sex-trafficking trial, which began in New York on Monday (Tuesday AEST). Israel Florez, now a Los Angeles police officer, was stationed at the Intercontinental Hotel in Century City, near Beverly Hills, on the morning of March 5, 2016, when the incident took place. He told the court he went to the sixth floor after being alerted to a 'woman in distress'. When he got there, he found Ventura 'bundled up in the corner' of the hallway with a hoodie on, looking 'scared' and with a 'purple eye'. In the lobby, a vase had been destroyed. Combs, Florez said, was wearing a towel and coloured socks, and sat slouched in a chair with a 'blank stare' or a 'devilish stare'. Loading Florez said he told Combs and Ventura that if they were going to argue they would have to take it back to their room. He said Cassie wanted to leave but Combs told her not to. When they went to the room, Florez said he stood in the doorway and watched her gather her belongings, while Combs reappeared with a 'stack' of cash, which he understood to be a bribe. 'I don't want your money,' Florez recalled telling the music producer. He says he then went downstairs to find Cassie outside the hotel at the valet, where he suggested she might wish to call the police. But she got into a black SUV and left the premises. The prosecution alleges Combs and his team paid another security guard $US100,000 to make the video footage disappear, although it did not. This was part of a wider conspiracy to use the rapper's music business to support and advance his abusive sexual predilections, prosecutors say, and cover up his behaviour.
The Age
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
‘Take it to your room': Security guard tells Diddy trial of finding Cassie in hotel
WARNING: This article contains graphic detail that may distress some readers. New York: A former security guard has told a court Sean 'Diddy' Combs offered him a 'stack' of cash following a violent altercation between the rapper and his then-girlfriend in the aftermath of a 'freak-off' sexual encounter in a Los Angeles hotel. The assault, in which Combs hits, kicks and begins to drag Cassandra Ventura, the R&B singer known as Cassie, down a hotel hallway, was caught on surveillance footage and was published by CNN last year. It was also shown to the jury in Combs' racketeering and sex-trafficking trial, which began in New York on Monday (Tuesday AEST). Israel Florez, now a Los Angeles police officer, was stationed at the Intercontinental Hotel in Century City, near Beverly Hills, on the morning of March 5, 2016, when the incident took place. He told the court he went to the sixth floor after being alerted to a 'woman in distress'. When he got there, he found Ventura 'bundled up in the corner' of the hallway with a hoodie on, looking 'scared' and with a 'purple eye'. In the lobby, a vase had been destroyed. Combs, Florez said, was wearing a towel and coloured socks, and sat slouched in a chair with a 'blank stare' or a 'devilish stare'. Loading Florez said he told Combs and Ventura that if they were going to argue they would have to take it back to their room. He said Cassie wanted to leave but Combs told her not to. When they went to the room, Florez said he stood in the doorway and watched her gather her belongings, while Combs reappeared with a 'stack' of cash, which he understood to be a bribe. 'I don't want your money,' Florez recalled telling the music producer. He says he then went downstairs to find Cassie outside the hotel at the valet, where he suggested she might wish to call the police. But she got into a black SUV and left the premises. The prosecution alleges Combs and his team paid another security guard $US100,000 to make the video footage disappear, although it did not. This was part of a wider conspiracy to use the rapper's music business to support and advance his abusive sexual predilections, prosecutors say, and cover up his behaviour.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Defense concedes Sean ‘Diddy' Combs had violent outbursts, but say no federal crimes occurred
The public knew Sean 'Diddy' Combs as a larger-than-life music and business mogul, but in private he used violence and threats to coerce women into drug-fueled sexual encounters that he recorded, a prosecutor said Monday in opening statements at Combs' sex trafficking trial. 'This is Sean Combs,' Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson told the jury, pointing at Combs, who leaned back in his chair in a Manhattan courtroom. 'During this trial you are going to hear about 20 years of the defendant's crimes." Those crimes, she said, included kidnapping, arson, drugs, sex crimes, bribery and obstruction. Combs' lawyer Teny Geragos, though, described the closely watched trial as a misguided overreach by prosecutors, saying that although her client could be violent, the government was trying to turn sex between consenting adults into a prostitution and sex trafficking case. The judge said he expects the trial to take eight weeks. 'Sean Combs is a complicated man. But this is not a complicated case. This case is about love, jealousy, infidelity and money,' Geragos told the jury of eight men and four women. 'There has been a tremendous amount of noise around this case over the past year. It is time to cancel that noise.' Geragos conceded that Combs' violent outbursts, often fueled by alcohol, jealousy and drugs, might have warranted domestic violence charges, but not sex trafficking and racketeering counts. She told jurors they might think Combs is a 'jerk' and might not condone his 'kinky sex,' but 'he's not charged with being a jerk.' Prosecutors seized on Combs' violence as they questioned their first witness and showed jurors a key piece of evidence: a now-infamous video without audio of him kicking and dragging the R&B singer Cassie, his longtime girlfriend, at a Los Angeles hotel in March 2016. Combs shook his head slowly side to side as the footage played. Jurors ended up seeing it four times as former hotel security officer Israel Florez testified, including once as Combs' lawyer tried to poke holes in his recollection. After CNN aired the video last year, Combs apologized and said he was 'disgusted' by his actions. Florez testified that he encountered Combs near the sixth floor elevators while responding to a security call for a 'woman in distress.' Combs, wearing only a white towel, was slouching in a chair 'with a blank stare ... like a devilish stare, just looking at me,' Florez told jurors. Florez, who is now a Los Angeles police officer, said that as he was escorting Cassie and Combs to their room, she indicated she wanted to leave and Combs told her, 'You're not going to leave.' Florez said he told Combs, 'If she wants to leave, she's going to leave.' Cassie left, and Florez said Combs, while holding a stack of money with a $100 bill on top, told him, 'Don't tell nobody.' Florez said he considered it a bribe and told Combs, 'I don't want your money. Just go back into your room.' Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, is expected to testify Tuesday. The second witness, Daniel Phillip, said he was a professional stripper who was paid $700 to $6,000 to have sex with Cassie while Combs watched and gave instructions, with the first encounter in 2012. Phillip told jurors that he stopped meeting with the couple after he saw Combs throw a bottle at her and then drag her by her hair into a bedroom as she screamed. On cross examination, defense attorney Xavier Donaldson tried to attack Phillip's credibility, mocking Phillip's former employer, a male review show company whose slogan promised 'the ultimate ladies night experience.' Combs watched Monday's proceedings attentively. He hugged his lawyers and gave a thumbs-up to family and friends as he entered the courtroom. He also blew a kiss to his mother and mouthed, 'Hi mom, I love you,' as she arrived for the start of testimony. Some of Combs' children also attended, including three daughters who left the courtroom when the testimony turned lurid. The case has drawn intense public interest, and the line to get into the courthouse stretched down the block. As Combs' family and lawyers left court Monday, some people were already lining up to snag a seat for Tuesday. Combs, 55, pleaded not guilty to a five-count indictment that could result in a 15-year-to-life prison sentence if he is convicted. Since his September arrest, he's been held at a federal jail in Brooklyn. Judge Arun Subramanian has granted Combs permission to wear regular clothes in court, instead of jail garb. On Monday, he sported a gray sweater and a white button-down shirt. Because hair dye isn't allowed in jail, his normally jet black mane is now mostly gray. Lawyers for the three-time Grammy winner say prosecutors are wrongly trying to make a crime out of a party-loving lifestyle that may have been indulgent, but not illegal. Prosecutors say Combs coerced women into drugged-up group sexual encounters he called 'freak-offs,' 'wild king nights' or 'hotel nights,' then kept them in line by choking, hitting, kicking and dragging them, often by the hair. In her opening, Johnson said Cassie was far from the only woman Combs beat and sexually exploited. The prosecutor said Combs last year brutally beat another woman — identified only as Jane — when she confronted him about enduring years of freak-offs in dark hotel rooms while he took other paramours on date nights and trips around the globe. The sex parties are central to Combs' sexual abuse, prosecutors say. Combs' company paid for the parties, held in hotel rooms across the U.S. and overseas, and his employees staged the rooms with his preferred lighting, extra linens and lubricant, Johnson said. Combs compelled women, including Cassie, to take drugs and engage in sexual activity with male escorts while he gratified himself and sometimes recorded them, Johnson said. Combs would beat Cassie over the smallest slights, such as leaving a freak-off without his permission or taking too long in the bathroom, Johnson said. Combs threatened to ruin Cassie's singing career by publicly releasing videos of her sexually involved with male escorts, the prosecutor said. 'Her livelihood depended on keeping him happy,' Johnson said. Cassie sued Combs in 2023, and the lawsuit was settled within hours, but it touched off a law enforcement investigation and was followed by dozens of lawsuits making similar claims. Geragos claimed Combs' accusers were motivated by money. She told jurors that Cassie demanded $30 million when she sued him, and another witness will acknowledge demanding $22 million in a breach of contract lawsuit. She also conceded that Combs is extremely jealous and 'has a bad temper,' telling the jury that he sometimes got angry and lashed out when he drank alcohol or 'did the wrong drugs.' But, she said, 'Domestic violence is not sex trafficking.' The Associated Press doesn't generally identify people who say they are victims of sexual abuse unless they come forward publicly, as Cassie has done. ___ This story was updated to correct the spelling of Casandra Ventura's first name, which had been misspelled 'Cassandra.' Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW
