Sherman Oaks restaurant owner shares frustration over LA County dining ban in moving video

SHERMAN OAKS, LOS ANGELES (KABC) – Restaurant owner Sherman Oaks has expressed her anger and frustration over the Los Angeles County ban on alfresco dining in a heartbreaking video.

Angela Marsden, owner of Pineapple Hill Saloon and Grill, posted a video on social media after seeing production tents and tables set up in a parking lot a few feet from the outdoor dining area that she is not allowed to use.

People involved in the television production were seen dining in the tents.

“Everything I own was taken away from me and they set up a movie company right next to my outdoor patio,” Marsden says in the video.

“They didn’t give us any money and they shut us down. We can’t survive. My staff can’t survive,” she also said.

Marsden has owned the restaurant for 10 years. She says she spent around $ 80,000 to set up an outdoor dining area and make changes to meet LA County’s health needs, but has run out of loan money and can’t afford to allow them to offer take-out, so for now she’s closing.

Marsden says she went to the restaurant to pay her staff and was in shock when she saw the production tents.

“The day they come to get their last paycheck, you hit me in the face and say it’s dangerous. Here, it’s dangerous. But just walk there and eat,” Marsden told Eyewitness News.

Marsden and other small business owners are making signs, preparing to hold a protest at the home of LA County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl.

Marsden says she hopes to reopen her business, but is unsure how she will survive without financial help.