Drought-tolerant landscaping sends grit onto plates of outdoor diners

Lately, patrons dining outside of Montrose Bakery & Café have been getting their orders with a side of grit.

Several patches of grass along the Honolulu Avenue eatery have been swapped for decomposed granite to comply with state mandates to reduce urban water use. The new sand-like material, said bakery owner Henry Baeza, is becoming a growing complaint among his customers.

“The wind brings it up and [it] flies onto their plates … I have to keep giving my customers new plates of food,” Baeza said.

Although not every business in Montrose is a restaurant, some proprietors are saying the new turf replacement isn’t nearly as appealing as grass, especially at Honolulu and Ocean View Boulevard, where grass has been removed from all four corners.

“I’ve heard the comment from so many people that it looks like Arizona,” said Steve Pierce, organizer of the Montrose Harvest Market. “It’s not Montrose. It’s not what we’re used to, but we don’t have many choices.”

The Honolulu and Ocean View crossing was at the center of controversy this year when Glendale installed a diagonal crosswalk that intermittently stopped traffic in all directions.

The crosswalk idea was eventually ditched, but business owners were upset that they weren’t warned about the change.

This time, however, the city kept in contact with the Montrose Shopping Park Assn. board of directors and notified it about the grass removal.

Andre Ordubegian, board president and owner of Copy Network, said that the city has been accommodating about removing the grass and that staffers have offered to add drought-tolerant landscaping so the decomposed granite doesn’t look so bare.

“People used to walk by and sit on the grass … it’s out of our hands, but we don’t like it,” Ordubegian said.

In addition to pulling out the green lawn, Glendale capped the sprinklers used to water the grounds, said Koko Panossian, senior parks services manager.

To combat one of the worst droughts in the state’s history, Gov. Jerry Brown mandated that California cities drastically reduce water use, with Glendale’s goal set at 20% by early next year.

The City Council recently voted to restrict lawn watering to just twice a week. Baeza says he wonders why the city didn’t cut back on watering its own landscape in the same fashion.

But Community Services Director Jess Duran said the state order required removal of turf landscapes unless they used reclaimed water.

Other streets throughout the city, including those in the Adams Square area and parts of Maryland Avenue, have been stripped of grass. Panossian said an effort to do the same citywide is about 90% complete.

If the drought comes to an end, Ordubegian is hopeful the city will allow grass to sprout again along Honolulu.

“We definitely want it back,” he said.

arin.mikailian@latimes.com