LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actress Lindsay Lohan's weekend
drunken-driving bust could spell a hangover for trendy
Hollywood-area nightspots, some of them already the targets of a
year long crackdown on underage drinking.
The California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, which
regulates liquor licensing, is looking into whether alcohol was
served illegally to Lohan in the hours before her arrest by police
in Beverly Hills, an agency spokesman said on Wednesday.
The 20-year-old actress was booked on suspicion of driving under
the influence after running her Mercedes over a curb and into a
hedge at about 5:30 a.m. on Saturday. Police said they also found a
substance in the car they believe to be cocaine.
Her arrest came about two hours after she was seen leaving a
popular Hollywood eatery. It was followed by a second night of
partying that ended early Monday with Lohan captured in widely
published photos passed out in the front seat of a car.
Later that day, Lohan, an acknowledged Alcoholic Anonymous member
who underwent rehab earlier this year, checked herself into another
treatment facility.
Lohan's woes focused attention on the nightclubs and restaurants
that cater to Hollywood's rich and famous and their complicity in
serving alcohol to individuals under the legal drinking age of
21.
A flurry of reports about underage stars and lesser-known minors
frequenting Los Angeles-area nightspots prompted the state's ABC
board to launch an enforcement crackdown that has resulted in 10
undercover operations so far, agency spokesman John Carr
said.
He said one bar, Teddy's in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, paid a
$3,000 (1,500 pounds) fine earlier this month for license
violations that included serving alcohol after hours.
Another club, Mood, faces a possible license suspension after being
cited for allowing minors on the premises, but the establishment
has challenged that finding, setting the stage for a hearing on the
matter, Carr said.
According to Us Weekly magazine, Lohan spent hours at the Roosevelt
Hotel on Sunday and Monday before her collapse. And the Los Angeles
Times said she and other young celebs, including Mary-Kate Olsen,
Frankie Muniz and Jesse McCartney, were photographed last year at
Mood.
Carr declined to say which establishments were under review as a
result of Lohan's weekend brush with the law.
The owners of the upscale Hollywood restaurant Les Deux, which has
no age limit as a dining establishment, acknowledged that Lohan had
dinner there the night of her arrest and left after closing time.
But they said she drank bottled water, not alcohol, had a driver,
and was allowed to stay after closing to wait for friends who were
packing up DJ equipment.
"Once she leaves here, I don't know what she does. But we do card
everybody," co-owner Sylvain Bitton told Reuters.