Gladstone’s Presentation Has Several Inconsistencies

 

PCH Beach Associates Tom Tellefsen appeared before a special Pacific Palisades Community Council meeting on October 30 to explain why the Gladstones project had only appeared once before the PPCC and why there had been no public hearings.

HISTORY:

When L.A. County announced that a new concessionaire had been selected for Gladstones, replacing former L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan, a public presentation was held in Caruso’s Palisades Village Community Room in June 2019.

Selected were Wolfgang Puck, Frank Gehry and PCH Beach Associates (Tom Tellefsen). At the presentation, L.A. County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, Puck and Gehry were absent. Pacific Palisades resident Tellefsen was the sole person representing the new concessionaire and people waited in line to ask him questions.

In a CTN story, this editor wrote: “There were no building specs to examine at the ‘presentation,’ nor was there a plan for the parking lot. One person was told [by Tellefsen] that the new building will occupy the same footprint as the current Gladstone’s.”

Circling the News asked Tellefsen about the seeming lack of information and he replied “the project is still in the planning stages. We’re looking for input, so we can see what is working and what isn’t and how to address it.”

In 2021, he went before the Pacific Palisades Community Council about the project, but did not present sketches or plans. Tellefsen said he would come back when he had them.

The community next heard about the project when it was listed on the agenda for the October 8 California Coastal Commission (CCC) meeting.

OCTOBER 8 COASTAL MEETING:

The CCC meeting was well-attended by Pacific Palisades residents whose comments mostly centered around safety and lack of local hearings. They had wanted to give input in a project that would affect traffic and possible evacuations. Gladstones is located at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway.

At the Coastal Meeting residents were told that a trailer bill, attached to ASM 178, passed in September 2024, and local input was not required for the Gladstone’s project.

OCTOBER 30 COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEETING:

During the Pacific Palisades Community Council meeting, Tellefson was asked about ASM 178 and said, “the state basically enjoys sovereign immunity over city jurisdiction. So, the county administers the property and Will Roger State Beach on behalf of the state. When the subject arose as to whether or not, the city would have jurisdiction, that arose from the coastal commission. The state decided to clarify it.”

CTN reached out to the California Coastal Commission and asked why they had requested the trailer bill. CCC Public Information Officer Joshua Smith responded on October 31. “That statement is false. The Coastal Commission knew nothing about the language in that bill until it went into print.”

There are already agreements in place: ASM 178 takes away local control. (According to the 1948  Lease Agreement between the state and the city for lease and management of the state lands (Will Rogers State Beach Park). There is a 1975  Joint Powers Agreement between L.A. and L.A. County.)

Finally, the project site is located in the dual permit jurisdiction area of the Pacific Palisades of the City of Los Angeles. Typically, projects requiring a coastal development permit within the dual permit jurisdiction area require a local coastal development permit from the City and, after the local coastal development permit is obtained from the City, a second “dual” coastal development permit from the California Coastal Commission. https://documents.coastal.ca.gov/reports/2025/10/W12c/W12c-10-2025-report.pdf

Who added the trailer bill? Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin and State Senator Ben Allen said it did not come from their offices. It appears it may have come from the Governor’s office. CTN reached out to Governor Gavin Newsom’s office about the trailer bill, which took away  local hearings. There was no response.

CTN reached out to L.A. County Lindsey Horvath’s office. Her spokesperson wrote that the supervisor knew about ASM 178, but, “Lindsey had nothing to do with that bill. She did not lead it or endorse it.”  Her spokesperson was asked why people in the community were not notified, since she had that information for a year. There was no response.

RESTAURANT SIZE UNCLEAR:

According to the California Coastal Commission report, the current restaurant’s main building is 10,183 sq. ft. with a bar-retail area of 1,508 sq. ft. and a public deck that is 7,900 sq. ft. According to current management, the restaurant/bar has seating for 400 and the deck had seating for 250.

The proposed new restaurant would be three stories with 11,543 sq. ft on the first floor, a 6,070 sq. ft. second floor and 99 sq. ft. on the third floor, with a 1,238 ft. deck. It would have 400 seats on the lower floor, 72 seats between two separate decks and the deck would have a minimum of 100 seats on a first-come, first-serve basis. The second floor, which Tellefson said would be for banquets and events, did not list how many seats it would hold.

People asked for a traffic study, but Tellefson said, “We don’t need a traffic study because we’re putting in fewer tables.”

PARKING:

The CCC’s priority is making sure the public has access to the Coast. Currently there are 212-parking spaces at Gladstones. With the new project and the addition of a bus-transit stop, there would be 148 spaces. There would be a bus layover place for drivers of the Big Blue and Metro buses.

The Santa Monica Big Blue Bus would travel down Sunset and instead of turning at Marquez Place would continue on Sunset into the Gladstones parking lot. Metro 602, which currently goes down Sunset, turns at Temescal Canyon Road, to drop students off at Palisades High School, before continuing to PCH, would be rerouted and stay on Sunset. Metro bus 134, which travels from Santa Monica to Malibu along PCH was not factored in the calculations. The south exit to the lot will be closed.

There is fear that this project will trigger SB 79. Tellefson disputed it.

 

TRAFFIC STUDY:

Several residents asked if the project had cleared CalTrans or if a traffic study had been done.

Sharon Kilbride asked, ‘“Have you done a traffic study of that intersection –it’s a dangerous intersection–there have been a high number of accidents.”

Tellefsen said, “We don’t need a traffic study because we’re putting in fewer tables.”

Jay Krugman, who lives in that area said, “that corner is incredibly dangerous. And if you’re simply going to say we don’t need a traffic study because we’ve got the same amount of tables as Gladstones, it is generally empty weeknights.  He explained that as people moved back into the 85 condos close to Gladstones and if the restaurant became a destination, PCH traffic could become a nightmare. “If you’re just doing the business Gladstone did, you’ll go under really quickly,” he added.

CALTRANS:

Tellefsen was asked if he had a Caltrans permit. “I met with Caltrans five years ago,” he said. “They told me if I don’t encroach, you don’t need a permit. . . .You don’t need us, we don’t need you.”

CTN reached out to Caltrans and was redirected to the County of L.A. Public Information Specialist Nicole Mooradian, who responded on November 4, “It’s important to note that one of the conditions for the project’s Coastal Development Permit requires PCH Beach to consult with Caltrans. The County and PCH Beach met with Caltrans representatives yesterday and will continue sharing information so Caltrans can confirm that no encroachment permits or other approvals are required. Both Big Blue Bus and Metro will be part of those discussions.

“According to the planned routing changes, the turnaround is not expected to introduce any new bus service along PCH. The change will allow the Big Blue Bus to extend its route to PCH while operating entirely on Sunset Boulevard, as well as reroute Metro 602 so that it no longer travels on PCH. Together, these adjustments eliminate turns onto or from PCH and improve safety near the intersection.

The County, PCH Beach, Big Blue Bus and L.A. Metro will continue to work with Caltrans to ensure the project is implemented and operated as safely as possible.”

SAFETY:

Several people worried about safety. Jessica Rogers, President of the Pacific Palisades Residents Association, queried Tellefson about the trailer bill, which prevented public hearings.

“The truth will come out,” she said. “We will find out how this came about. And the sooner we know and the sooner people are transparent about it, the fewer stories will get created around it.” Rogers was concerned about safety, particularly since people evacuated to the Gladstones parking lot during the Palisades Fire.

Beth Holden Garlen echoed Rogers’ concerns, “This community is still very concerned about their safety. This is a major throughway. And yeah, I mean, who doesn’t love a nice restaurant? But we are all very concerned still about safety. Had this fire happened in the middle of the night, many of us would be dead right now. Just plain simple. All these meetings that happened without this very engaged community is incredibly concerning and incredibly hurtful.”

Tellefsen was asked about the light and sound from the new project and responded, “no light and no sound back into the community.”

About the only positive comment in the hour and half meeting came from Donna Vaccarino, who identified herself as the president of the Palisades Historical Society, but said she was speaking on her own behalf. She was effusive in praise for the new building, which would demolish the 1981 original building. Gehry was an old professor of hers and a mentor.

PROJECT WAS IN THE MEDIA:

Tellefsen said he would have come back to the PPCC, but he didn’t have any graphics that could be shown. He said the group entered into the set of agreements with the County in October 2022.

“At that point in time, we had done our site investigations and our due diligence and found that the design for footprint of the project would no longer work because we had to design a valet loop that could handle the stacking to not interfere with PCH and not to back up on PCH,” Tellefsen said and added that Frank [Gerhy] had to start a new design from scratch in 2022.

It was done by June 2023 and for the next year they went through the bidding process. “At the end of 2024, I had something I could show you,” he said. “And then the fires hit.”

Tellefsen said residents should have been aware of what was going on because media had written numerous stories about the restaurant.

There were stories in 2018, when Puck/Gehry received the concession. There were numerous stories in 2023 about ‘Gladstones Legacy’ taking over the operation until Puck/Gehry restaurant was built. Stories did not feature the proposed design.