In the video shared on Friday, Angela Marsden, the owner of Pineapple Hill Saloon and Grill located in Sherman Oaks, points out a large designated eating area for a film crew just a few feet away from where she set up her restaurant’s outdoor dining space. Pineapple Hill’s outdoor accommodations featured a small number of tables seven feet apart, in compliance with social distancing measures.
“I walk into my parking lot and obviously [Los Angeles] Mayor [Eric] Garcetti has approved this…has approved this being set up for a movie company. I’m losing everything. Everything I own is being taken away from me and they set up a movie right next to my outdoor patio, which is right over here,” an emotional Marsden says in the video. “And people wonder why I’m protesting and why I’ve had enough. They have not given us money and they have shut us down. We cannot survive. My staff cannot survive.”
In the clip, she gestures from her restaurant’s outdoor patio and then to the film crew’s eating area and says: “Look at this. Tell me that this is dangerous but right next to me is a slap in my face, that’s safe. This is safe? Fifty feet away?”
The viral video has been viewed millions of times since it was posted, and thousands of people have commented with messages of support for Marsden and her employees, including some celebrities who have encouraged people to donate to the restaurant’s GoFundMe page. More than $166,000 has been raised since Marsden launched the fundraiser on Friday.
“If you want to help Angela and her Pineapple Hill Saloon you can donate here if you can,” Maria Shriver tweeted on Sunday.
Shriver’s son, Patrick Schwarzenegger, commented directly on Marsden’s video offering to help. “Ridiculous—so frustrating!!! Pls message me. Would love [to] find way to support/help you along with the staff. Stay Strong,” he wrote on Instagram.
Donald Trump Jr. blamed politics for the predicament that Marsden and other restaurant owners find themselves in. “It’s like these politicians are trying to destroy all small businesses. Ridiculous!!!” he tweeted.
The outdoor dining area next to Pineapple Hill Saloon and Grill was set up by a catering company hired to service the film crew of the NBC sitcom Good Girls, according to the New York Times. The catering site and film location were both given permission to operate under a permit issued by the city. Film crews are required to undergo regular COVID-19 testing.
In a statement to the Times, Los Angeles’ mayor said his “heart goes out to Ms. Marsden and the workers at the Pineapple Hill Saloon who have to comply with state and county public health restrictions that close outdoor dining.”
“No one likes these restrictions, but I do support them as our hospital I.C.U. beds fill to capacity and cases have increased by 500 percent. We must stop this virus before it kills thousands of more Angelenos,” Garcetti said.
Los Angeles restaurants were ordered to end all outdoor dining and switch to take-out only on November 25.
Meanwhile, the county’s Department of Public Health reported that 2,988 people with coronavirus were hospitalized on Monday, with some 24 percent currently in intensive care units.
