City Suspends Southside Bar

La Caleta Restaurant & Bar is closed through Feb. 1 as a result of a two-week suspension handed down by the Milwaukee Common Council.

Monica Hernandez-Gaspar has owned the establishment, 1801 S. Muskego Ave., for six years and serves as its agent.

But she told the council’s Licenses Committee on Jan. 5. that she wasn’t present for a string of incidents that drew police attention in Spring 2021. She was on leave, having had a baby on May 27.

“My partner is working to, you know, keep the place safe,” said Hernandez-Gaspar of business partner Omar Monreal Salas. “We always cooperate with the police if there is any trouble with the cameras.”

She said Monreal Salas and her brother, whose name wasn’t offered, operated the Muskego Way neighborhood establishment in her absence.

The Milwaukee Police Department reported issues related to fights inside the tavern and shootings outside. The department drafted a nuisance designation for the property on April 19.

MPD Sergeant Guadalupe Velasquez, in reading the police report into the record, said the department rejected the bar’s abatement plan because it failed to include calling the police when incidents occur, providing employee training, checking for weapons and preventing loitering.

The bar has also failed to comply with state laws on how to procure alcohol (through a distributor). On May 4, members of the police department and Wisconsin Department of Revenue visited the business and reported finding Hernandez-Gaspar in the restaurant portion and an unlicensed bartender behind the bar. No invoices could be presented for 62 liquors and 65 boxes of beer, all of which were seized.

“I will tell you, in doing my research for this meeting, these jumped out at me and I’m concerned,” said Alderman Mark Borkowski.

“I do have great concerns about this business and I will tell you I looked further into it, I called District 2 to ask how things were going,” said area alderwoman JoCasta Zamarripa. She said MPD told her its automated ShotSpotter system, which tracks gunshot sounds, reported six incidents at the property after the department rejected the safety plan in May.

“I do not support renewal at this time,” she said.

But Hernandez-Gaspar attributed many of the problems to former residents of the apartments above and the two-story building’s past owner, Jose Luis Gonzalez. Hernandez-Gaspar’s business partner purchased the property in August for $460,000 and she said was successful in getting the problem tenants to leave.

“When my partner bought the building, we started to fix everything. The teenagers left the place,” she said.

Zamarripa said she wasn’t aware of the purchase and said she could support a two-week suspension. The committee unanimously backed her suggestion.

Committee chair Ald. Milele A. Coggs recommended using those two weeks to create an acceptable nuisance abatement plan.

The full council approved the suspension on Jan. 18 and it went into effect on Jan. 19. Hernandez-Gaspar did not appear at the meeting to contest the measure.

The council has the authority to suspend licenses for between 10 and 90 days. It often uses a progressive-discipline approach before voting to deny renewal or revoke a license.

City records indicate the two-story building contains four one-bedroom apartments. Assessment records give a 1901 date of construction, but the cornice line says 1920.

The building was once home to Crocus, a Polish restaurant well-regarded enough to be recommended by food critic Dennis Getto in 1985. In recent decades it’s been home to a number of less-known, Spanish-named bars and restaurants.