Hangar Inn Needs Support, Manhattan Beach: Food To-Go, Gift Cards

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA — As one business closes due to the pandemic and is busy cleaning up its premises enough to hand the keys over to the landlord in Downtown Manhattan Beach, another business in East Manhattan Beach remains open, its owners trying to decide how much longer they can keep the doors open.

Whale of a Wash in Downtown Manhattan Beach may be done but Harold Kinsley and Dean Moss, co-owners of The Hangar Inn since 2003, are trying to decide what to do given the current ban on outdoor dining in Los Angeles County. Yes, the City of Manhattan Beach crafted a workaround to allow outdoor dining at public "parklets" in Downtown and North Manhattan Beach but The Hangar Inn didn't have any right-of-way space to occupy to do so. Instead, they were stuck dealing with dining in their parking lot as their only option to create some form of equity with outdoor dining "parklets" and a City of Manhattan Beach code enforcement officer shut that down about three weeks ago, Kinsley said.

So, even though restaurants in Downtown and North Manhattan Beach continued to sell food to-go to an audience willing to then take their food orders and sit down at the outdoor "parklets" [previously the outdoor dining decks the restaurants operated with servers] for past month or so, The Hangar Inn didn't get the benefit of that.

When Manhattan Beach Patch reached Kinsley Monday at The Hangar Inn at 1 p.m., the business had yet to see a customer that day and the cash register was down to a few dollars.

"Right now, we've got food and drinks to go," said Kinsley, "but we're not matching our numbers. We're trying to decide what to do. Do we go into our savings? Is it worth staying open?" The former Aviation High School student and Redondo Union High School grad is torn.

"Now, this [financially] is getting scary," he noted. The last three weeks at The Hangar Inn have been tough. The city code enforcement officer shut down their outdoor dining and then a cook tested positive for the Novel Coronavirus. Kinsley, intent on doing the "right thing" throughout the pandemic, shut The Hangar Inn down, quarantining himself and shuttering the business temporarily. Everyone had to be tested and re-tested before coming back to work.

He says customers want The Hangar Inn open; diners who've not been there before [and The Hangar Inn has grown its audience since COVID-19 hit] are surprised by its quality food, good beer menu, wine and champagne offerings. And the locals, those in the know, want The Hangar Inn's grub to go and are willing to do just that — order food to-go, stand and wait outside until their orders are ready.

The rub is how does The Hangar Inn remain a viable business that can remain open during the pandemic's hard financial hit. "We were doing everything the right way," said Kinsley, noting the face shields and masks servers wore, how staff was set up for indoor only or outdoor only work to mitigate any issues, how plexiglass was in place to provide protection.

Notably, Kinsley is not angry about COVID-19 or what it's done to his business. "We're gonna adapt," he told Manhattan Beach Patch. "We're being super positive about it. It's nobody's fault." Kinsley's sister and nieces have tested positive for COVID-19. "It's real," he said of the virus.

When The Hangar Inn could operate its outdoor dining, before Los Angeles County nixed it the night before Thanksgiving, the restaurant was doing 65-70% of its usual business, said Kinsley. "We've made a point to keep people socially distanced, we've been following protocols. We're doing everything we can. Shields and masks on servers, sanitizer on every [outdoor] table. We've spent a lot of money trying to make everybody [city, county, state, diners] happy."

He's grateful for the customers who have dined outdoors or picked up a to-go order, some of them also buying $100 gift certificates to help The Hangar Inn out. "That's what's keeping us going," he said. "That's what's keeping us open. You don't want to disappoint them."

The dilemma now is whether or not it's worth it to "stay open, keep the electricity on," and one cook and one server, noted Kinsley. "The community loves us and we want to be here."

Kinsley and Moss weren't even born yet when The Hangar Inn opened in 1957. And they came to own the place after being on a softball team the diner sponsored through an unusual set of circumstances. And since 2003, when they became the owners, "We've worked at it," said Kinsley. "We put a lot into it; a lot of effort into the foods." He mentions some diners are pleasantly surprised or shocked when they learn The Hangar Inn has "healthy salads, wraps" in addition to its burgers, hearty breakfasts and the like.

He told Manhattan Beach Patch he's "pretty conflicted" about what to do now. "We were doing everything the right way," he lamented. "I can say you learn so much from things that happen to you." He noted that his employees "need to make a living. We gotta do the right thing."

The Hangar Inn is at 1001 North Aviation Boulevard; (310) 379-0836.