Should Local Clubs and Restaurants Serve Alcohol Until 4 a.m.?

A state senator from San Franciso has introduced a bill that could have big ramifications for nightlife-heavy Echo Park, Silver Lake and Los Feliz.

Mark Leno's SB 635 would let nightclubs and restaurants serve alcohol until 4 a.m.

Liquor stores, however, would still have to shutdown at 2 a.m.

Leno explains the legislation this way:

This legislation would allow destination cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego to start local conversations about the possibility of expanding nightlife and the benefits it could provide the community by boosting jobs, tourism and local tax revenue.

And according to Matt Gray, executive director of Taxpayers for Improving Public Safety:

Uniform closing times put significant stress on public transportation systems and the law enforcement agencies tasked with managing and dispersing large crowds of patrons when they all leave the clubs at 2 a.m.

We saw the news first posted on the Facebook page for the Satellite in Silver Lake--the former Spaceland--where much of our area's nightlife began in the 1990s.

Read the full LA Weekly story here.

And tell us in the comments:  what do you think about later hours for area nighlife?