Fight over noise at trendy rooftop restaurant Catch LA heats up

The lush rooftop restaurant Catch opened in September across from the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood and was instantly a hit, a verdant venue for romantic dinners, celebrity sightings, and cool Instagram posts. But its popularity, reports WeHoville, is driving some residents to lose sleep.

The music and chatter and is spilling out over the rooftop and into their homes. They’re asking the West Hollywood Planning Commission to intervene.

“The noise from Catch has become the soundtrack of my life. Every single day of the week, every week of the year until 2 a.m.,” West Hollywood resident Eduardo Citrinblum told the commission. “The question is not whether or not Catch violates the noise ordinance, but why the city hasn’t done anything about it yet.”

The city reported receiving five noise complaints since January, but some residents say they don’t even bother calling code enforcement, because they don’t think it helps.

Catch’s owner, Mark Birnbaum, knows there’s a problem. According to WeHoville, he says he has hired a “shush man” to tell customers on the street to be quiet. He also plans to spend about $200,000 to enclose the restaurant’s entrance area in glass, which might help buffer some of the sound.

The commission was set to review the restaurant’s permits again in 12 months, but, because of the complaints, voted Thursday to hold another hearing in three months.

“The fact that anyone is losing sleep, in my opinion, is not OK, because this [restaurant] wasn’t here eight months ago,” said commissioner David Aghaei.

For the full story, dive over to WeHoville.

• Catch Restaurant Catches Heat at WeHo Planning Commission [WeHoville]
• Catch Is the Coolest Damn Rooftop in West Hollywood [Eater LA]