Sunset Junction Street Festival cancelled


By
 in ,

The Los Angeles Board of Works voted 3-1 on Monday to deny operating permits to the Sunset Junction Street Festival, less than a week before it was scheduled to start.

The board attributed its decision to nearly $400,000 in unpaid fees dating back to last year from the festival’s organizers, which has taken place every year in the Silver Lake community since 1980.

The Sunset Junction Neighborhood Alliance tried to convince the panel it could pay back its debt, producing a fax that showed it had recently received a $100,000 loan from concert promoter Live Nation.

But the group ultimately failed to turn in a check for $141,000 to cover the fees for this year’s event, and still owe $260,000 to the city from last year’s festival.

The board decided it could not risk the possibility that the festival would not be able to repay either of those fees.

“This organization has failed this city time and time again,” said board president Andrea Alarcon to the Los Angeles Times. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”

This year, the festival was supposed to feature sets from artists such as the Butthole Surfers, Art Brut and Hanson.

In years past, acts such as The Airborne Toxic Event, Silversun Pickups, Phantom Planet and The Black Keys have performed at the festival before hitting it big.

Now, it looks as though up-and-coming bands will have to find somewhere else to showcase their talent.