Santa Clarita Restaurant Owners Under Fire After They Openly Harassed a Fruit Vendor | Eater LA

"After a viral video showed co-owners confronting a street vendor, I reported that Renee McAlonis and Michael Foster were filmed harassing a vendor from La Palma Fresh Fruit for selling fruits and beverages on the sidewalk without a license, telling them the police had been contacted. The footage captures Foster using racialized, disparaging language — including “Get it the fuck out of here. This isn’t Pacoima. It looks like shit,” and “We aren’t the fucking ghetto” — which triggered widespread online backlash: Yelp users review- and photo-bombed Bergie’s now-disabled business page with screenshots of the owners, and multiple images circulated showing what appears to be Ku Klux Klan imagery at or around the bar, such as upside-down white paper cups placed on the bar and a white hooded figure in the parking lot. The location has local history: the restaurant on Delone Street originally opened in 1991 inside the former Sandpiper Inn, became a favored stop-off for truckers and locals known for cheap steaks, happy hours and proximity to Highway 14, and after McAlonis — a former LAPD sergeant — bought and rebranded it as Bergie’s in 2015 it has been highlighted as a Santa Clarita landmark known for live music, burgers and karaoke. Community members have also publicly called for McAlonis to step down, citing her law-enforcement record, a 2012 arrest report for drug possession and carrying a loaded firearm into Bob Hope Airport, and allegations of malfeasance in a 2008 case involving a Black minor selling newspapers." - Sean L. Malin